Abut*, 40, and her grandchildren live in Bor, South Sudan in an IDP camp. They are among the 5,800 internal displaced people supported by JF-CPiE who aim to start a new life after being displaced by the floods and the conflict in 2022.
Abut is the grandmother of 1-year-old Maker, a boy who lost his mother and father at the age of one. Abut’s town Bor, in South Sudan has faced serious and multiple floods and her family is at risk of hunger.
Abut’s family was displaced by floods in 2022 to Bor stadium IDPs camp, where they live now. She and many others in their village were farmers practicing mix-farming (growing crops and rearing animals). However, they lost everything as a result of the 2022 floods.
2022 Floods in South Sudan
Four straight years of flooding, an unprecedented phenomenon linked to climate change, has swamped two-thirds of South Sudan.
Hundreds of thousands of people were trapped beneath the water line, protected only by earthen dykes that must be constantly checked and reinforced to avoid a catastrophic breach.
Child protection risks in Bor
The Child protection concerns and interventions of humanitarians in Bor are driven by intercommunal and armed conflicts.
The flag of protection concerns was and is being raised by floods, food insecurity, economic crisis, climate change, and limited access to basic services.
JF-CPiE in Bor aims to support vulnerable affected population in five IDPs camps through the establishment and strengthening of Child Protection systems, individual support through case management services, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), awareness-raising, capacity building, and monitoring and reporting.
The project directly benefits 5,800 program recipients in the Bor South and 3,000 indirect beneficiaries among host communities and from other IDP camps.
Beneficiaries are supported mainly through non-focused MHPSS, case management, Child Protection system strengthening and community-based approaches.
Among these interventions awareness raising on key child protection concerns in the community, child protection prevention messaging, and child help desks are very relevant for the affected population.
Abut is not only taking care of Maker* but also of other 3 children of her family. She is struggling for their survival. She can’t fulfill the children’s needs. Three of the children need to be in school but Abut couldn’t enroll them because she cannot afford their school materials.
When JF-CPiE met Abut and Maker in October 2022, they were living in Bor stadium IDPs camp, 10km away from the main town. Abut could only go to the forest to collect firewood to sell and earn something for a living, but insecurity has become a threat and she stopped going to the forest. They only have one mosquito net, no sleeping mat, blanket, or bed sheets. The family could brow from their neighbors a sleeping mat and had one blanket to use at night. Abut’s situation was unsustaible.
Before the intervention, she was worried because she couldn’t afford shelter and other basic needs like clothes, food, and education for her children. She was also worried because they had been displaced by the floods, and insecurity was a threat. She reported her living situation to Save the Children Child Protection Help Desk. She said she could not afford to buy milk for one year old Maker. This raised a flag to JF-CPiE to intervene.
“I am unable to fulfill my children’s needs because I am an old and jobless woman. I have no son who can assist me in raising the kids in any way. I have been displaced by the floods in Mathiang and all our animals have died. I am now receiving food from the WFP to support my family. Now, I am able to take good care of my children and their wellbeing thanks to the skills I acquired from the trainings on Positive Parenting Without Violence. My children are now attending classes daily”
How Abut’s family was supported?
JF-CPiE supported Abut’s family with plastic sheets, milk, blankets, bed sheets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, and bathing soaps. Save the Children also supported the enrollment of the children in primary school and facilitated them for referral to WFP to get food regularly. They now sleep under mosquito nets to prevent Malaria. Her children received school materials and are now provided with psychosocial support and Positive Parenting Without Violence training to help Abut support her children’s wellbeing.
- *Not his/her real name.
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This publication was produced with the financial support of the German Humanitarian Assistance
Its contents are the sole responsibility of Joining Forces and do not necessarily reflect the views of the German Humanitarian Assistance.