The people of southern Sudan have been embroiled in a struggle to survive for decades, so a group of Londoners recently travelled there to help improve their lives.
A-Channel News Anchor Kathy Mueller and Cameraman Wayne Jennings accompanied them and here's what they found out..
There hasn't been a drop of rain in Aweil, Sudan since October, and there won't be any until June when the arid plains will be flooded by months of constant rainfall.
It's a harsh climate, but the people are resilient. They live in " Tukuls ", mud huts with thatched rooves and dirt floors. There is no electricity, no toilets, and no running water. Their drinking water comes from wells or a river and is laced with high levels of e-coli bacteria.
Survival has been made even more difficult by a civil war between the mainly Christian south and the mainly Muslim north for 21 years. Hostilities ended 2 years ago, and a peace agreement was signed last January. However, it's a tenuous peace and it wouldn't take much to shatter it.
However, the peace holds for now and that allows agencies like CASS ( Canadian Aid For Southern Sudan ) to make inroads. When Londoner Jane Roy first visit Aweil 4 years ago, she found no businesses or schools. People just subsisted. That's now slowly changing.
Children who used to fight in the People's Liberation Army and now going to school in the area more often , and one way to help ensure they continue to do so is to make sure they have a school to go to.
That's where four London firefighters come in. They've taken a trip back in time to a place where the trench for a new school they're helping to build is being dug by hand. There are no power tools in Aweil and even basic tools like tape measures and hammers are hard to come by. ( The hammers sent from Nairobi, for example, came with no handles, so tree branches had to be used )
Progress is made all the slower by the language barrier
Another problem is the fact that education hasn't been a priority in Aweil because of the civil war. Now schools are open from April to December each year , but attendance isn't mandatory.
Building a new school , the firefighters figure, will make getting an education more attractive to children who have lived with the horrors of war.
And, after the Canadian contingent leaves, a builder from Kenya will be working with former child soldiers to make sure the two elementary school buildings are finished.
