South Sudan had every right to feel optimistic about its future.
In the years leading up to 2015, after decades of instability and civil war, things were finally starting to look brighter. Fast forward to 2021, just eight years after the country gained independence, it’s people are being displaced at record levels.
It’s a sobering reminder of how things can change in an instant. Hope turns into despair for millions of people when problems compound — war, economic woes, drought, and crop failures.
Mother of five, Monica, and her family are now displaced after fleeing violence. They make up the 2.2 million South Sudanese who are clinging to the edge of existence with a long and uncertain road ahead of them.