There is a saying we often use: "Once Sudan, forever Sudan." This might not be true for everyone. But when you spend time in Sudan, you either can't wait to leave - because it's such a harsh place to live - or you fall for it and it will never let you go again. This is what happened to me.

Working with the Murle tribe

The first time I came to Southern Sudan was with Medair in 2002. War and severe environmental and climatic conditions had taken a savage toll on the population. It was my first encounter with a humanitarian organisation, and the first time I met people who were living under the most extreme conditions you can possibly imagine.

Medair was starting a project for the Murle tribe, who lived in the eastern area of Southern Sudan. When we arrived in September 2002 for a survey, we found friendly and welcoming people who looked healthy and well-nourished. But when we came back the next March to begin a water and sanitation project, we found a very different picture.

The rainy season had failed in most parts of Southern Sudan that year, leaving the Sudanese people not only having to live with the bombings and attacks, but stripped of their last essential items that had enabled them to survive. The people who greeted us at the plane were still laughing, still welcoming. But they were thin and dirty. Flies were everywhere.

During the following months, many children and adults died from diarrhoea and other infections. After much hard work, our Medair team was fortunately able to provide the Murle tribe with safe drinking water, by drilling boreholes at depths of over 90 metres.

Hope in Melut county

In November 2007, Medair was able to open a health clinic in Melut county, a formerly unreached and neglected area in the northeastern corner of Southern Sudan. Every day, up to 100 people wait in long lines to receive treatment. Many of them are sick with diarrhoea, and many of them are children.

Tragically, diarrhoea can be deadly in a place like Sudan. However, Medair's integrated programme provides access to safe water and sanitation, which is helping to change the lives of those people. Hygiene promotion is helping them to understand what effect contaminated water and a lack of hygiene can have on their bodies, and how they can prevent illness. Over time, the Medair team is hopeful that the lines in front of the clinic will get shorter and shorter.

Reflections on Sudan

Today, four years into the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Southern Sudan has formed a semi-independent government, development is taking place, and people who fled their homes many years ago are returning. They are coming back to sometimes very empty places, communities that have been torn apart, with non-existent health, water, and schooling facilities.

Meanwhile, I am back in Switzerland, where I grew up. I work at Medair's headquarters in Ecublens, on the edge of Lake Geneva, surrounded by the beautiful French and Swiss mountains. But despite all of this, I am still connected with Sudan.

It is not easy to explain why a place like that can grip you, why it will always be part of your thoughts, or remain in your memory. To be honest, I don't think I can explain it because it's just there in my heart - even if conditions brought me sometimes to the brink of crumbling, both physically and mentally. I always knew I had the possibility to return home and open the tap and let the cool and sparkling water flow over my face and hands, while the people of Southern Sudan had nowhere else to go.

Now, as Medair's Desk Officer for the region, I have been back to Sudan to visit our projects, and have seen some impressive changes. However, I also see that it is still a struggle to get hold of a few litres of safe drinking water.

Though progress is slow, hope is still alive in Southern Sudan. With the help of our donors, Medair will continue to provide communities with life-saving resources, as well as the teaching and training that will help them to maintain their independence in the years of rehabilitation and rebuilding that are to come.

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Medair brings life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable. Its internationally recruited staff are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, providing practical and compassionate support, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Founded in 1989, Medair has an unwavering commitment to bring hope to the world's most vulnerable.

Pictures:©Medair/Odile Meylan