Matt Powell Humanitarian Photography :: Blog

South Sudan.

It really does exist.

The Episcopal Church in Rumbek celebrates Easter Week and a few very significant church re-openings.

In the Upper Nile region, outside the port-town of Malakal, the White Nile river forms a boundary between the Shilook kingdom and the Jonglei State. In the not-so-distant-past the river also formed a geographic battle line between government-backed militias and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Our boat captain Joseph spoke of when he was a boy growing up along these banks and “the river flowed with bodies”. Apparently the militias would cross over to raid villages, indiscriminately kill innocent people and toss the bodies into the river. But today this river represents hope. Those like Joseph, who fled as young children, are now returning in great number to re-settle along the fertile banks. They are planting crops, grazing animals and re-starting their communities from scratch.

Western Bar al-Ghazal province is situated just below the contested North-South boundary and Southern Darfur where fighting is currently taking place. We came to visit some of the many people who have fled the fighting in Darfur and are now living in displacement camps here. Many people who fled Darfur in recent years originally escaped from the first war in the south.