UPPER NILE – The only road connecting Malakal to locations in northern Upper Nile state has been severely damaged and waterlogged during South Sudan’s long rainy season.
This doesn’t just affect life-saving humanitarian assistance and regular movement but challenges an already strained economic situation for communities.
Kamis Gabriel to whom this pathway is a necessity for survival illustrates this.
“Since the road flooded, it takes me more than five hours to reach places where I go daily to catch fish to sell. But I have no other option.”
When the road was still intact, Kamis’ journey time on the 99-kilometer stretch was limited to one and a half hours. Today, things couldn’t be more different.
“If I come to a point where water levels are too deep to drive or walk, I swim,” he adds, noting that waterborne diseases continue to pose serious health risks across the country.
On good days, when he collects more fish that weigh more than the 70 pounds that he’s able to carry, this family man makes multiple trips through the muddy water.
Kamis is not alone in this quest for survival; hundreds of other people are forced to use this waterlogged path each week.
To alleviate their hardship, Indian engineers serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) peacekeepers have begun rehabilitating parts of this important route, making it more accessible day by day.
Their dedication goes beyond the mandate. For Commander Shobhit Chaudhary, the project is a very personal one, having seen the impact of his team’s successful repair of the same road last year:
“Once we completed this road, local communities immediately started taking motor vehicles rather than walking almost 100 kilometers to their destination. Their smiles while passing us on the road, didn’t need any explanation. So, we are doing everything possible to, once again, make their lives a little easier,” he explains.
Motivated by the people they came to serve, Commander Chaudhury and his team are working every day, from sunrise to sunset, using some 30 pieces of heavy engineering equipment to once again enable people to convene, connect and trade.
Seven days a week, they conduct more than a hundred trips collecting soil from their base to pave a path forward, transforming water into solid ground. After all, the daily survival of communities depends on their intervention.
By Jaella Brockmann
