Yesterday was a bit different. It was cooler than before and there was a slight spray of water from the heavens which lasted for only a minute. Then, the sun shone as bright as ever. Nature is such a tease here in The Suds.

I was told this is the beginning of the lean seasons. It has been months since the people harvested food and the ground is dry and parched. Everything looks brown except for an occasional speck of green that one would notice only in the town center or near the banks of the River Nile. The borders to Sudan has also been closed for months so prices in the South Sudan side has doubled, tripled and quadrupled. 

I once asked our Logs guy to check out the price of a cup for me. He told me it was 500SSP (3USD if using the bank currency exchange and 1.5USD if the black market) then a week later when I finally decided to purchase one, he told me it is already 1000SSP.

Our clinics has also seen an increased number of acutely malnourished children and women. Some of them are recent returnees from Sudan while some are internally displaced people(IDP) who has started to trickle in on 2010 then just settled here in the borders instead of moving on to their original ancestral lands.

Inshallah, when the rain comes, things will be different. Farmers can now start planting their crops and hire others to till their fields. However, the kids will still grow hungry until the farmers get paid during harvest season. We also expect to see an increased number of defaulters in our program as the mothers will be bringing their children to the fields which are so far from our clinics.

During our SMART survey, we have talked with a couple of people and I have learned something about the culture of the people on this side of the Nile. One person said that they would rather starve than ask food from their neighbors.