Food stocks got finished long ago, the markets are empty and the grain sold by the government has been exhausted in many areas in Eastern Equatoria.

Credits: Pia Zanetti/Caritas Switzerland

‘There is nothing,” said Apolonia Lomedi, “This year is only for death.”

No food is available in her village. The cupboards are bare in the next door village too, where the government used to sell maize at a subsidized price.

She lives at the foot of the Lomohidang mountains in Eastern Equatoria, once the bread basket of South Sudan but now struggling to cope with two years of drought. Now 800,000 people need food aid.

Poor rains in 2008 already left people without enough food. This year, dry spells in May and June have ruined the summer harvests. The region usually gets an average of 360 millimetres (14 inches) of rainfall between March and September, but this year there were only 280 mm.

Apolonia is tired and suffering from chest pain. She is a widow into her sixties, looking after five nephews and nieces on the small amounts of money their father sends. If she has some money, buying food means several hours of walking to go to Ikotos, or trying to get a place on a pickup to go to Torit.

Apolonia herself is not able to walk far distances anymore, so she usually asks younger women for help when they are going to buy food.

In most households, food stocks got finished long ago, the markets are empty and the grain sold by the government has been exhausted in many areas. People are eating grass, wild fruits, tubers and leaves just to survive. Others walk many hours or even days in order to buy food in the next bigger towns like Ikotos, Hiyala or Torit.

Children, households headed by women and old people are in greatest need. Caritas will support 10,000 people with food and seeds in order to give them the opportunity to grow their own food again as early as possible.

The region is recovering from years of conflict that left two million people dead and millions more forced from their homes. It ended with the signing of a peace deal called the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.

More than four years later, vast areas of South Sudan still lack basic services like schools, health facilities, safe water sources and roads.