South Sudan: Lack of access to safe drinking water
Not even half of South Sudan's population has access to safe drinking water. Nearly 13 years after gaining independence, South Sudanese continue to face deteriorating humanitarian conditions. DW meets Nyatong Koang Dak and her family who fled devasting flooding affecting the region and who is now in desperate need of a safe home and drinking water.
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00:00 Water is both a blessing and a curse in South Sudan.
00:04 Nja Tongkwang Dag and her family know this first hand.
00:08 Dag and her family, just like hundreds of thousands other South Sudanese,
00:12 used to live in the northern parts of the country.
00:15 However, due to a devastating flooding affecting the region,
00:19 they have been forced to move further northern to Bentiu, the Unity State capital.
00:24 "We were displaced by the floods.
00:27 The situation here is very hard.
00:30 There is no firewood, there is only little food.
00:33 We are relying on the food handouts from the UN.
00:36 If there is none, we go and collect water lilies."
00:40 In the last four years, large swathes of South Sudan
00:44 have experienced unprecedented flooding.
00:46 Villages have been submerged, farmlands and roads destroyed,
00:51 and more than 900,000 people displaced, according to the crisis group estimates.
00:56 Nja Tongkwang Dag says the situation has further left them
01:00 desperately in need of safe drinking water.
01:03 "When we want fresh water, sometimes we have to go into the river.
01:07 But getting in and coming out without getting underwater is very hard.
01:11 It is good we can get fresh water from here, but it is just not enough.
01:15 The IDPs are there, the population is growing."
01:19 According to UNICEF, 59% of South Sudan's population
01:24 lacks access to safe drinking water.
01:27 Further to this, UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says
01:31 the floods have greatly affected the region's agriculture.
01:34 And with the region still reeling from the decade-long civil war,
01:38 more than two-thirds of the population now depend on humanitarian aid.
01:44 "Life today is totally different.
01:47 When I was in the village, I cultivated my own crops,
01:50 we ate our own food, and now we are depending on handouts.
01:54 It is hard, it is painful to have to depend on somebody.
01:57 I am not feeling okay. I don't know what will happen.
02:00 Maybe one day we will be told that there is no more food from the UN.
02:04 So I am scared of what will happen next."
02:07 Back at the water spot, more women have gathered.
02:11 They heavily bear the brunt of the country's current crisis.
02:14 Access to clean water, like at this International Rescue Committee water point,
02:19 makes a huge difference for many of them.
02:21 Women leader Nyatai Rengtong explains.
02:25 "We can drink and cook with this water.
02:27 You cannot get diseases like diarrhea and like when drinking river water,
02:31 you can get sick.
02:32 The water that has chased us away from our homes is bad.
02:36 It's our real enemy. We cannot dare to take it.
02:39 Sometimes animals die in that water and contaminate it.
02:43 That is why we are looking for groundwater,
02:46 because it's not harmful to us."
02:49 The International Rescue Committee runs this water point.
02:53 "Life is very hard for the women, especially during this time of flood.
03:00 So people are suffering really.
03:03 That is why we are struggling to maintain this facility.
03:09 So to help, to reduce the suffering of the local community here."
03:15 The flood water is so close.
03:18 Yet clean drinking water remains out of reach for so many South Sudanese.
03:24 [WATER SPLASHING]