Response efforts help contain South Sudan outbreak
“I washed my hands in it. I filled my jug. And I wept.”
– Nyandeng Bol, Duk County, South Sudan resident
/ By Kristina Goetz
Nyandeng Bol, a widowed mother of five, has known struggle for as long as she can remember.
Nyandeng lives in the heart of Duk County, South Sudan, in a dusty corner known as Gadiang.
Gadiang is a village of more than 30,000 people. They’re mainly internally displaced women, children and the elderly. In this place, people have always suffered from water scarcity. From the time of creation, as they say, the community has depended on muddy, stagnant pond water and contaminated hand-dug wells, knowing what comes next: stomach cramps, diarrhea, sometimes death.
Cholera outbreaks there come like seasonal floods – predictable, devastating and fatal.
Gadiang is the kind of place where survival is the daily measure of success.
In late 2024, the worst cholera outbreak in two decades hit South Sudan, ultimately infecting 70,488 people, 808 of whom died. The situation was intensified by ongoing conflict, severe flooding, and a deteriorating healthcare system.
Panic struck Gadiang as more than 200 cases were reported in just two weeks.
Children like Nyandeng’s youngest, a four-year-old daughter named Akuol, were among the first to fall ill. The small clinic there was overwhelmed. People were afraid.
Nyandeng cried herself to sleep at night and prayed for help to reach Gadiang before it was too late.
And then it came.
WaterStep, a global leader in safe water innovation, working with the John Dau Foundation, launched an emergency cholera response. For the first time in Gadiang’s history, a motorized well was drilled in the center of the community. Safe water surged from beneath the ground.
Nyandeng remembers the day the water flowed.
“I washed my hands in it. I filled my jug. And I wept,” she said.
It was a moment of relief and disbelief. But the intervention didn’t stop there.
WaterStep also supplied water treatment systems and storage containers across seven John Dau Foundation health facilities and repaired two additional boreholes.
Community health workers, many of them women like Nyandeng, were trained on how to use WaterStep’s BleachMaker, creating a sustainable system that empowers local leadership. The community saw a dramatic drop in cholera cases, and within six weeks, the outbreak was contained.
More than 30,000 people gained access to safe water. Children returned to school. Mothers stopped lining up at the clinic. Fear disappeared.
Ayok Khot Kuol, emergency response manager for the John Dau Foundation, said the transformation in Gadiang has been astounding. In previous disasters, improvement was gradual, but with WaterStep’s programs and equipment, the change was immediate. When the source of the infections stopped – unsafe water – the spread of the disease stopped.
“It was just like a miracle,” he said.
In fact, four-year-old Akuol is healthy now. She’s happy, playing, and back in school.
“This is not just a successful story,” Ayok said. “It is a proof that with the right support lives can be transformed. The intervention in Gadiang wasn’t just about emergency relief but about building resilience, empowering women, and creating systems that last.”
Zac Tossou, chief program officer at WaterStep, reflected on the powerful collaboration between WaterStep, the John Dau Foundation, and the local community.
“When we arrived in Gadiang, the need was urgent, but the will of the community was even stronger,” Zac said. “Our role was to provide the tools and skills. They turned those tools into lasting change. We always empower communities and restore dignity.”
Nyandeng now volunteers as a hygiene promoter. She proudly teaches others how to use treated water and store it safely. Her life has changed forever and so has her children’s.
“I used to fear water,” she said. “Now, I celebrate it.”
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