War, droughts, locusts and now Coronavirus

Let us tell you Thereza's story. She is 36 years old and lives in Palotaka, a small village in South Sudan. She is a widow and has lost 5 of her children to malnutrition or related diseases. Today she lives with her two remaining children. Thereza has no job and she is struggling to grow her small vegetable garden. Some years, the harvest is relatively good and she can sell some of it to buy what she needs: cereals, some meat, oil,... But in other years, she can only grow a few meagre vegetables. And this year doesn't look good for her and her children. Most of her crop was destroyed by a plague of locusts a few weeks ago. And although she has some money left over from last year, she can no longer find what she needs at the market. Since the pandemic hit, food has become increasingly scarce and the price of what is still available is rising a little more every day. In addition to the fear of being affected by the Coronavirus, what scares Thereza and prevents her from sleeping every night is that she won't be able to feed her family in a few weeks time.

There are thousands of stories like this across the country. The consequences of endless conflict, repeated droughts or too much rain, and now a global health crisis, make us fear the worst in terms of food security for Southern Sudan.

Caritas Luxembourg has been supporting the people of South Sudan in their fight against malnutrition for many years. In recent months, distributions of soaps and hygiene products have also been taking place, as well as training on how to limit the spread of Coronavirus. For if the country were to be severely affected, it would not be able to cope, as the sanitary facilities are inadequate and lack everything. The consequences would therefore be dramatic.

Poor countries such as South Sudan are collateral victims of a crisis that affects us all at different levels. We cannot let them down.

We can't let Thereza down. She needs you. Make a donation today and support her and thousands of others in her situation.