As floods forced many of the South Sudanese people to beg, Ayen Achiek sat on a footpath in the South Sudanese city of Bor, her sunken eyes searching for food and money, according to a report by Anadolu Agency.
Achiek, 60, is not the only one whose home in the town of Hai Marol in Jonglei state was destroyed by floodwaters, forcing her to beg; many more can now be seen on the streets of the town on the east side of the Bahr al Jabal River.
Since May, the United Nations estimates that 700,000 people have been displaced by flooding across the country.
Jonglei, Unity, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Upper Nile are the worst-affected states. Flooding has claimed the lives of more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Flood victims are complaining about a lack of food since their goods have been wrecked or washed away by the water. Achiek's life is challenging because she lost everything when the floodwaters forced her to flee her home.
"Food is scarce here ... sometimes I have to beg on the roadside, but who is there to provide money sufficient to buy a meal?" Achiek told Anadolu Agency.
"Our farms are unsuitable for cultivation now ... Crops have been submerged, and our cows and goats have died due to water-related disease," she said.
"Right now, we have our makeshift shelters erected on the main road leading to the riverbank. Most people are sleeping on the side of the road, which is where we sleep... I'm right there with five of my grandchildren," she said.
Her house has been flooded for a long time, and she is frightened that it could collapse, leaving them without a place to go when the area dries up.
Nyanachiek Dhol, a Jonglei resident who received food from UN organizations, told Anadolu Agency that the food contributions are insufficient because they have nowhere else to go.
"People get supplies from UN agencies and the government on occasion, but it's not enough because there's no work to augment the limited supply. We're going hungry ... many are attempting to cultivate, but their fields have been damaged by floods, and hunger has set in," she added.
A state hospital in Bor is grappling with a number of problems, including a lack of medicine and qualified doctors.
The Bor State Hospital's medical director, Bol Chaw Manyang, said they were out of anti-malaria, injectable medicines for bacterial infections, anti-venom, and anti-rabies to treat dog bite victims.
"The first challenge is a lack of essential medicines to treat patients, compounded by the large number of patients that visit the hospital on a daily basis. On average, nearly 500 patients turn up at the hospital," Manyang said, adding that they lack the capacity to admit many patients.
In addition, he stated that an upsurge in malaria cases had occurred as a result of months of floods.
"There has been a rise in the number of patients admitted in various wards and in the outpatient department," he explained, and added, "All of this is due to the floods, and the hospital's capacity to cope with them has been overwhelmed. "
Mary Aluel, a mother of three who has visited Bor State Hospital three times in the last two months, said she was treated for malaria and typhoid.
She expressed anxiety to the Anadolu Agency that she would have to dig deep into her wallet to acquire drugs in private pharmacies because the hospital where she receives low-cost treatment has run out of drugs.
“The hospital has the capacity to treat diseases like malaria and typhoid, but sometimes the drugs are not available in the hospital, so when you have the money, you buy from the pharmacy, but if you do not, then you continue to suffer,” Aluel said.
The World Health Organization's (WHO) state coordinator for Jonglei, George Wani Worri, claimed there has been a rise in the number of infections across the state, despite a shortage of vital drugs.
"The WHO will try to bring drugs for emergencies, and the government would contribute drugs as well," Wani explained. "However, drug consumption rates are really high, and there are some medicines that quickly fished in the hospital."
The government of South Sudan approved a $10 million emergency aid package earlier this month to assist flood-affected families in seven states throughout the country.
The national minister of technology and communication, Michael Makuei Lueth, said the assistance package authorized by the Cabinet will be utilized to help inpiduals evacuated from their homes resettle as well as provide food support.
"The people who are displaced are very much affected by floods, and after the floods have subsided, they need to be resettled in their areas of origin because they don't have anything at present and all that they need is to be rescued now, Lueth added.
Save the Children, one of the international aid agencies in the country, said it is seeking $30 million from international donors to enable it to respond to thousands of flood-affected people in the country ahead of expected heavy rains in the upcoming months.
“Save the Children aims to provide life-saving and life-sustaining support to 918,500 extremely vulnerable children and 751,500 adults by 31st December 2021,” Rama Hansraj, the country director of Save the Children, told Anadolu Agency.
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