“I am collecting forest fruits and leaves that I cook for my children,” said 45-year-old Nyachuol Tut*. Everywhere in the reception center, women cook bright green leaves in pots on makeshift fireplaces. For many, that’s all they have eaten for months. Others collect firewood, selling it in the local market to buy millet or other food.
Venturing into the forest to collect wood can be dangerous. “Sometimes we see soldiers from South Sudan who cross the river into Ethiopia, and they beat us,” said Nyachuol. Asylum seekers also say that children playing close to the nearby river that separates Ethiopia from South Sudan have been abducted.
Many mothers are at their wits’ end, such as 28-year-old Nyabol Lam*, who arrived in Pagak in February. She fled Jonglei State with her own three children and three nieces and nephews after her sister and brother-in-law were killed in inter-communal fighting. The youngest child is just one year old.
They all sleep outside. “I don’t even have a container to cook, [and] no utensils,” she said. “We have nothing to eat. The children are just sleeping because they have no energy. We have no clothes, no blankets. Nobody is helping us.”
Rains will worsen conditions
With the upcoming rainy season, which starts at the end of April, the situation will deteriorate further if no solution is found. Already, occasional downpours have turned parts of the camp into swamps. Once the rains start in earnest, people will no longer be able to sleep outside.
“When it rains, we all seek shelter in the sheds,” said 67-year-old Gatluak Deng*, who sleeps outside with his children and grandchildren. “Because it’s so crowded then, we have to sit up all night. No one has the space to lie down.” The rainy season will also make it difficult to collect firewood, leaves, and forest fruits, and to cook outside.
The pools of standing water at the site also make an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, which spread malaria. “Malaria is already one of the top morbidities of children under five,” said MSF country director Audrey van der Schoot. “In February and March, we treated 593 patients with malaria. We expect the numbers to go up once the rainy season starts, as well as cases of waterborne diseases such as acute watery diarrhea.”