The greatest tragedy of the world’s youngest nation is perhaps that it is not quite tragic enough — at least by the standards of the 2014 news cycle. Despite the perfect storm of crises that engulfed the young nation last year, South Sudan was not quite as bloody — and the ethnic cleansing not quite as widespread — as Syria. Its outbreak of cholera and spikes in malaria and tuberculosis were not as pressing as that of Ebola in West Africa. And its food insecurities — the worst in the world — were not as severe as those in East Africa’s past, shyly missing the designation of “famine.” Malnutrition doubled among children under five, and more than 50,000 children faced death due to food insecurity, but neither was enough to line the fundraising campaigns of the United Nations and other aid operations in-country.
Yet, in 2014, in only its second year of existence, South Sudan teetered on the brink of genocide, disease, and famine — a deadly combination exacerbated by a particularly harsh rainy season and an endless race-to-the-bottom in what is becoming an international crisis-competition for limited resources and meager relief.
The role of women in my understanding of this narrative became very central quickly in my time in South Sudan. Consistently, women and girls were disproportionately and grotesquely affected by every element of each of the broader crises. Every hallmark of the most basic female experience — from birth, to motherhood, to sex — was disrupted by war, by disease, and by unspeakable choices of circumstance — all punctuated by rampant, and in many case, acceptable gender-based violence. Though in my edit I attempt to show the many faces and issues of South Sudan’s tragic “daily life,” I identified my female characters as the protagonists, guiding the narrative and the audience through South Sudan’s many challenges.
- A government soldier drinks a date-based alcohol at 7AM. Women and girls represent the most vulnerable population in South Sudan’s civil war. Government and rebel soldiers use rape as a tactic, but gender-based violence has also heightened off the battlefield. The war’s hardships have increased risky transactional sex. © Gianluca Panella
- A dog races into hiding after being stabbed by one of the many drunk government soldiers that roam Malakal’s abandoned neighborhoods. Malakal was South Sudan’s “second city,” a significant oil hub. After it switched hands six times in the first six months of the war, residents evacuated. © Gianluca Panella
- A woman agonizes in a cholera clinic. In May, the country’s crisis deepened as a cholera outbreak erupted in seven of South Sudan’s ten states. Cholera is both treatable and preventable, but many died due to lack of access to clean water. Over 2000 cases were recorded in one month.
- Juba, South Sudan, A child begins treatment for severe malnutrition in Juba, South Sudan. The fighting in South Sudan has complicated the distribution of food throughout the country. Malnutrition rates have increased, and international NGOs are sounding alarms about an impending famine this fall. © Gianluca Panella
- A woman struggles through several feet of mud to return to her temporary shelter. During the rainy season, flooding turned the country’s IDP camps into mosquito-infested swamps. Overcrowding, flooding, and disease are just a few of the problems South Sudan’s IDPs face. Women are at high risk of sexual assault and gender-based violence. The UN cannot detain accused rapists for over 48 hours, and without a functioning state, the criminals are released back into the camps.
- Malakal, South Sudan, Inside the homes of the civilians in Malakal’s IDP camp, families fight the rising mud and sewage. By August 2013, nearly 900,000 of the 1.3 million South Sudanese IDPs were living in flood-prone areas like this camp. © Gianluca Panella
- Young government soldiers patrol the abandoned streets of Malakal. Both rebels and government forces have abducted and recruited child soldiers. for By April 2013, UN officials believed that more than 9,000 children had been pulled into the ranks of the soldiers on both sides of the ongoing civil war. The South Sudanese government army, the SPLA, now controls the oil-rich town of Malakal, South Sudan. The town’s population, however, has yet to return to the war-torn city. © Gianluca Panella
- Armed young men patrol most of South Sudan’s streets. Civilians fear a prolonged conflict: both sides fought a guerrilla war for decades against Sudan, and thus, both sides know the terrain and each other’s tactics. In 2015, the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, enters its second year of civil war.
- The city of Malakal has been transformed into a ghost town of burned and looted homes. Only young government soldiers, often drunk and hungry, live throughout the town. Residents call the nearby UN IDP camp “the New Malakal,” since most of the townspeople have fled the once bustling city.
- A girl navigates her way through the mud and sewage of Malakal IDP camp. In the overcrowded UN camps, women face the added threat of gender-based violence. A pattern of sexual assault has emerged at the camp’s latrines, and women fear relieving themselves after dark. © Gianluca Panella
