Easing Water Labor in South Sudan, One Well at a Time

It had been more than three years since Salva Dut left New York amidst the pandemic, split between Uganda and South Sudan. Everytime he comes to the US, he has to exit the world of Africa and learn something new, he says.

"Whenever I come, I have to learn something new always. And I need to update myself because a lot of things pass me and you need to update yourself. If not, then you will be behind completely,” says Dut. Dut started, Water for South Sudan, a non-profit based in Rochester, New York, 20 years ago when he found that his father, whom he thought dead for 16 years, was, in fact, alive. His father was undergoing treatment for a parasitic infection called Guinea worm infection caused by drinking contaminated water when Dut's distant cousin informed him about his father in a letter sent to his address in Rochester. In the time since, the group has built 614 water wells, thousands of miles away in South Sudan.

The first time he came to the US from a refugee camp in Kenya as a 21-year-old, he had to learn things like the use of showers, laundry, and grocery shopping. More than 25 years later, he marvels at the ability to watch television on the palm of his hand, and is shocked by the disappearance of Radio Shack when in the US and deals with the rather dysfunctional bureaucracy of the African banking system when in South Sudan/Uganda.

From learning English from international aid workers to learning the technicalities of drilling a well to help his ailing father, Dut has made a habit of updating himself from his time in refugee camps of Ethiopia and Kenya.

The organization’s efforts to provide access to clean water and sanitation services in a country where 5 million people lack both may seem straightforward, but it is the culmination of a long journey for Dut, who once was one of those his organization now seeks to help. Access to clean water would do more than improve health outcomes, he says. It could also radically transform educational outcomes, particularly for South Sudan’s female population.

CAPTION: Water for South Sudan at work. (CREDIT: Water for South Sudan)

DUT’S PERSONAL JOURNEY

Dut is one of the hundreds of the so-called Lost Boys of Sudan who, after losing their families in the war, walked from the erstwhile southern part of Sudan to Ethiopia, and then walked their way to Kenya. There, at the Kakuma refugee camp, the boys were given a chance to move to the United States. Ultimately Dut settled in Rochester, where he met his American family – Louise and Chris Moore and their four children.

“I grew up in an area that has no running water, or electricity, or latrine, or shower, or oven, cooking gas or a refrigerator - all those things were not part of my life (before). (In the US) Weather too was different. I had to learn everything right from (how to live in) my room, learning how to answer the phone, in a refrigerator, where to put the frozen food, going to grocery stores, doing laundry, take a shower and make sure to put the knob where I do not burn myself,” said Dut while listing multiple other things that he had to learn in order to fit in.

Five years into his time in America, Dut received shocking news wrapped in an envelope with an address from his home country: his father was alive.

“I was in the US, my dad is sick and I said, ‘OK, I have to go’. I could not wait anymore. I had to go (to Sudan). I talked to my friends and they helped me and then I left immediately. He didn't recognize me when I walked to him and said, ‘Hey Dad.’ And he said ‘Who are you?’. I told him my name and once he recognized me, he took some water and sprayed it on me (traditional Dinka custom) and then we were reunited,” said Dut while describing the moment he met his father for the first time in more than 16 years.

At the hospital, Dut learned that his father has the guinea worm parasitic infection - a painful condition that can be avoided by drinking clean water.

While there was little specific data in 2003 about access to clean drinking water in Sudan, it was apparent to Dut and so many others that in order to survive, they had to dedicate multiple hours in a day to collecting water. In contrast to his time in his village and refugee camps, Dut found the time to attend school, join church, and be part of a community.

Over the next four years, Dut said he collected $50,000 in donations from friends, family, and the Rochester community, which he used to dig a well in his village, Lou Ariik village in Tonj county in Warrap state of South Sudan. As monetary woes slowly started alleviating, technical obstacles made their way into Dut’s plans - the main equipment needed for drilling a well, the drilling rig, had to be shipped along with the skilled labor to operate the machinery, from outside the country.

However, that arrangement became unsustainable within the first two years of their operation.

“I talked with my guys and said, 'well, this is becoming a challenge. This guy is so tied up'. He is working with three different countries, Tanzania, South (then southern Sudan) Sudan and Uganda. Cannot do it all. And this is where I decide to purchase all our equipment and be independent,” said Dut.

Dut's 16 Year Long Journey Across the World to Reach Home

This is a timeline of Salva Dut's personal life that led to the formation of his non-profit Water for South Sudan.

HOW ‘WATER FOR SOUTH SUDAN’ WORKS

The non-profit began with a few board members from Dut’s social circle in 2003. By the end of 2004, the company had a fund balance of $97,565, according to their tax-filing that year. It was in the following year that the digging work began.

Outlining the general process, Lynn Malooly, 61, Managing Director of WFSS, said, "State governors and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) commissioners or ministers help determine areas of need and then we focus down into counties. In a given season we would pick maybe 3 to 4 counties and then from there work with village leaders to determine how many wells we might have and then what's the best placement of those wells."

Seeing the benefits the well brought, he set out to expand services. By the following year, he was joined by two other Lost Boys — Ajang Abraham Agok and Ater Akol Thiep, according to the website of the non-profit.

Malooly, who has been with the organization for over 12 years, describes the bureaucratic process of procurement as difficult in South Sudan. After their registration in the US, Dut had to get operating permits in Africa. As South Sudan was not an independent country, in 2005, he had to travel to Nairobi in neighboring Kenya as that is where South Sudanese government offices operated back then.

The lack of paved roads and infrastructure in the country make it difficult for the trucks carrying material for well-construction to move around.

“So the people of South Sudan in some ways are forgotten by the world. When I went in 2018, there is another South Sudanese man here who also has his own non-profit, and he told me, 'Lynn, be prepared, you're going to go back to the 14th century.'," said Malooly.

WATER CRISIS AFFECTS RURAL POPULATION DISPROPORTIONATELY

Although Dut’s organization has been working in the region for nearly two decades, South Sudan’s water crisis continues, particularly in rural areas, where a majority of South Sudan’s population — including Dut’s parents — live.

Globally, easy access to clean drinking water has improved by 4 percentage points between 2015 and 2020, according to a joint release issued in 2021 by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Despite those advances, the number of rural South Sudan residents who have to walk more than 30 minutes to access clean drinking water has actually increased in the same period, according to an analysis of the data released by the two organizations. As a majority of the South Sudanese population live in rural areas, it is a cause for concern that a growing number of them have to walk for water.

According to Peter Mahal, the director general of South Sudan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the available data is not reflective of the current picture due to the outdated population projections.

“Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) takes on the data that is UN stipulated. They calculate and make the population projections. They take it (base data) from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). But the NBS has to get the data from us (Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation) as the primary owner and the primary owner up until now has very old data which will not reflect the clear and current picture,” said Mahal.

At the most basic level, the system of capturing all the water related projects’ information - water information management system (WIMS) - is not updated with all the small water distribution and surface water treatment projects that exist. The systems that stopped functioning after the 2013 violence, therefore, have outdated projections for populations that need water supply as well as the projects initiated to serve them, according to Mahal.

Dut explains that the number of water projects undertaken by humanitarian aid organizations are far more in number than the government projects. The available data, therefore, can be used to make some observations, albeit with caveats provided by Mahal.

Walk for Drinking Water Keeps Getting Longer for Rural South Sudanese

Majority of South Sudanese population lives in rural parts of the country.

Walk for Water Keeps Getting Longer for Rural Population

The percent of rural population that has to spend more than 30 minutes to access clean drinking water has increased over the past 10 years.

Longer Walks for Better Drinking Water

This chart represents water accessibility of only rural population. Among the rural population, the percent of people drinking directly from lakes, rivers, ponds has deceased even as walks for cleaner water have become longer.

MORE THAN JUST HEALTH

South Sudan’s water crisis disproportionately affects women and girls. The act of collecting water for a household often falls to young women and girls, who are never paid for their labor, according to a 2016 Oxfam report that surveyed 490 people living in South Sudan’s displaced persons camps.

For some, the journey can take hours, keeping girls from attending school or pursuing their education. Additionally, collecting water can expose women to higher risks of sexual violence.

Although data from South Sudan is limited, a 2016 study of water collection in Sub-Saharan Africa found that women and girls often collect water for their families very late at night, exposing them to increased risk of sexual violence and teenage pregnancy.

Father to 4 children, Dut takes a special interest in addressing the plight of young girls in situations of water crisis. The work of his non-profit, Water for South Sudan, brings schools, clinics, and markets to town allowing children an opportunity to get educated instead of walking all day to gather water. His parents, who wish to live in their long-time home in Lou Ariik, are also part of the rural population that he works towards serving.

Water for South Sudan has survived two wars - the second civil war of Sudan and the civil war of South Sudan. The organization was registered in 2003 under the 501(c)(3) tax code. He now lives in Kampala, Uganda with his family and visits the United States for a few months every year.

It now employs an all-South Sudanese crew, except one Kenyan technician, and educates villagers about maintenance of the wells. Its headquarters are based in a small house in Rochester, but the operation is spread across hundreds of miles in South Sudan, bringing clean drinking water to thousands of citizens, one well at a time.

Github repository of this project. Click on it to find the data and code used for analysis and visualization.