“I came from South Sudan with my nine children”

In Nguenyyiel camp, one of the seven refugee camps established in the Ethiopian Gambella region, near the border with South Sudan, refugee people are experiencing dire conditions.

Since December 2013, the civil war that rages in South Sudan has displaced thousands of people, with more than 2 millions of refugees and asylum-seekers in the neighboring countries of Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya mostly. Gambella region currently hosts more than 405,000 persons, mainly women and children, which equals the local Ethiopian population. The terrible circumstances of their journey to find shelter in Ethiopia and the harsh living conditions in a camp lead the most vulnerable of them to malnutrition.

Nuyakeen is a 33 years old mother “I came from South Sudan with my nine children, I remember it was the 23rd October 2016. I was in another camp, but I moved to Nguenyyiel one month ago. I didn’t hear from my husband since I arrived in Ethiopia. He is a soldier and I don’t know whether he is alive or if he died. I don’t have any news.” On her lap, her latest child has been admitted the day before in the stabilization center of Action Against Hunger. “Deech is 1 year and 7 months old. It’s not the first time I bring him in a health center, he has already been treated once but he keeps falling sick.” The little boy has fever, cough, and her mother thinks he is experiencing pain throat that is why he lost his appetite. After a while, her elder daughter joins them, bringing the yellow card that indicates how many people there is in the household and that determinate the food ration they are receiving from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “She takes care of the other children when I am here with Deech. Fortunately, only my baby is sick.”