Light For The World
Disabilities in South Sudan
South Sudan, 2018
I travelled across South Sudan with writer Nick Schönfeld for Light For The World, documenting their disability work nationwide — from installing wheelchair access in IDP camps to cataract screenings and surgeries and community-based rehabilitation and physiotherapy in remote villages for children with severe disabilities. Teams fit mobility aids, train caregivers and health workers, and adapt homes and schools so children can move, learn and participate in daily life. Delivering this work is extraordinarily difficult in a country as fractured as South Sudan — insecurity, displacement, poor roads and scarce clinical resources complicate every step — and, at the time of our visit, there were only one or two ophthalmologists serving the entire nation. Yet these practical interventions are restoring dignity and independence to many thousands of disabled children and adults
Hadia was born with multible disablities, including hydrocephalus, spina bifida and clubfoot. Sophia Mohammed (hands bottom left), a community rehabilitation expert, shows Zaina (hands bottom right), a new physiotherapy technique in Mundri.
Nyamit's feet, Disabled internally displaced person, Mahad IDP Camp, Juba.
Cataract patient Nyitoch, Buluk Eye Clinic, Rumbek.
Ameth, Cataract patient, Buluk Eye Clinic, Rumbek.
Achuol before surgery, Cataract patient, Buluk Eye Clinic, Rumbek.
4 young women, Buluk Eye Clinic, Rumbek.
Sarah Dawa (25) Sudan Evangelical Mission (SEM) field worker, Mundri, South Sudan, 2018.
Repent Woroh, Executive director at Active Youth Agency, Juba, South Sudan, 2018.