WARRAP - In Lietnhom, mothers used to walk for hours—sometimes days—to reach a clinic. Some didn’t make it. Others delivered on roadsides, under trees, or in overcrowded rooms without power or privacy. But now, in the county headquarters of Gogrial East, a health facility stands—rebuilt not just with concrete, but with community resolve.

For years, the Lietnhom Primary Health Care Centre operated from a single unfinished room. It served more than 53,000 residents without electricity, clean water, or basic sanitation.

“We had to do everything—deliveries, antenatal, postnatal—in one small space,” said Achol Ayii Garang, a midwife. “There was no privacy. I once helped a woman deliver using only a phone light. She was in pain, and we had nothing else. But we couldn’t send her away.”

Recognizing the urgency and the community’s determination to finish what they started, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) stepped in—not as a humanitarian agency, but as a peacekeeping mission using one of the few tools within its mandate to bridge a critical gap.

With a modest Quick Impact Project (QIP) budget—capped at $50,000—UNMISS partnered with Health Net Organization to renovate the maternal and child health unit. The work included installing solar power, furnishing the facility, constructing a placenta pit and latrines, and strengthening the skills of health workers to improve care delivery.

The newly reopened facility is more than a building. It’s a turning point for maternal health in Gogrial East.

“We are not just handing over a building,” said Khandaker Saiful Islam, Acting Officer-in-Charge of the UNMISS Protection, Transition and Reintegration Section. “We’re supporting the community’s right to survive, to heal, and to thrive.”

The handover marked a moment of restored ownership. Organized by Health Net Organization and embraced by the community, it brought together traditional chiefs, government officials, health workers, and local families who had all played a role in making the center a reality. Women in bright wraps danced beside health workers in white coats. Chiefs stood shoulder to shoulder with midwives. More than a ceremony, it was a public affirmation: this facility belongs to the people of Lietnhom—built with their vision, sustained by their need, and now fully equipped to serve them.

“We receive more than 50 pregnant women a day,” noted Madit Arop Bol, Director of the County Health Department. “Without this facility, many of them had nowhere to go. We’re grateful to UNMISS and Health Net for helping us bring health care closer to our people.”

From a single overburdened room to a functioning maternal health facility, Lietnhom’s transformation reflects what happens when peacekeeping meets community-led resilience.

As Achol Ayii Garang quietly said while preparing the delivery room: “Now, when a woman cries out in labor, we don’t turn her away—we welcome her in.