Youths in Panyagoor town, the headquarters of Twic East County in Jonglei State, started repairing damaged parts of a dyke, which protects the town from floods.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, Peter Deng Maluil, a Panyagoor youth leader, said they started to voluntarily rehabilitate the dyke two weeks ago because the town was being threatened by the floods.
“We use local tools to dig the soil and put it in bags to fix damaged parts of the dyke. About 160 youth have been involved since we started on September 6,” he said. “The dyke is 12 kilometres long, and so far, we covered about one kilometre. Our work will run until the end of October.”
The youth leader said that repair works are progressing well. He, however, complained about a lack of food and tools.
Deng Mabeny, Twic East County Commissioner, said the rehabilitation work saved the town.
“On the day of launching on September 6, about 300 people turned out. Rehabilitation of the dyke has since been ongoing, and this has helped to protect the airstrip, county hospital, and those vulnerable people who are resettling in the county headquarters,” he said.
For his part, Ruben Makeer Ajook, the county Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, also lauded Panyagoor youths for voluntarily rehabilitating the dyke and said that he has been coordinating with aid agencies to support the youths.