Kueryiek in South Sudan — For months there hasn’t been much to celebrate in Kueryiek. All that could change is that a marriage is possible.
Nyekuoth Manyuan, the bride-to be, is dressed in a green gown and a wig that fits poorly. She is treated as if she were royalty. She can save her community’s starvation by getting married.
However, as CBS News’ foreign correspondent Debora patta reports, it comes with a terrible price: The bride is just 14 years old.
She had a future beyond her small village in South Sudan two months ago. She was in school where she not only received an education but also a daily meal. The cost of fuel and food has risen dramatically, largely due to Russia’s war on Ukraine. This has caused the school food program in abrupt halt.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) supported school meals, as did much of the emergency food assistance provided to millions of South Sudanese people living in poverty due to drought and floods.
CBS News was informed by the WFP’s acting Country Director that the WFP had to suspend aid to South Sudanese people due to rising costs and the loss of donations.
Marwa Awad (WFP’s South Sudan head of communications), said that “it’s because there’s so many catastrophes blowing up throughout the world.”
She stated that the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Yemen, and now Ukraine, have been a double-edged knife, leaving WFP with less money to feed more people.
Nyekuoth’s village has been struggling to survive on water lilies. However, the school was feeding its children. Parents like hers had to make a choice between food and education when the cash-strapped WFP suspended that program.
Nyekuoth was negotiating with her father about the value of her daughter’s hand in marriage. The village women waited to hear from Nyekuoth, while Nyekuoth sat, looking tired and seemingly content with her fate.
Patta said that she knew she was young. “But the food’s gone, and I want my relatives to survive on the money they will get.
Manyuan Kerena, her father, laid down a row of sticks in front of each head of the other families. Each stick represented a cow. In exchange, he wanted 100.
The father admitted that it hurts. The cows we get are not worth it. We are afraid. We don’t have any food.”
After many hours, a deal was reached. The cow bells rang and there was much singing and dancing. These are difficult times. Nyekuoth was married by the family for 60 poor-fed cattle.
The groom, who was more than a decade younger at 25, got Nyekuoth to go home with him.
Patta asked her if she would find it difficult to go with her husband.
She said “No, it won’t be difficult,” “because they want to be alive.”
“You shouldn’t choose between education and food. You have the right to both. A child 14 years old, her family or larger community should not have to make this choice,” Awad from the WFP told CBS News. She is aware that Nyekuoth’s case is not unique.
Patta said, “There are so many other people.” “We are seeing a drop in school attendance.”
Awad stated, “It makes it feel partly ashamed that we are unable to assist as individuals and as an organisation.” “We are doing our best, but the solution is for people to remember South Sudan. This is the solution because many people can still thrive with help.
Feeding a South Sudanese schoolchild costs just $15 per month. A child can get an education and other options for their future beyond the early years of parenthood by buying four to five cups of coffee.
Nyekuoth is passionate about science and wants to be a doctor. However, her story shows how hunger can ruin a person’s life.
