Nyakuok and her grandson Nhial in South Sudan. Image © Lucy Beck/CARE

After famine was declared in her district, Nyakuok carried her two-and-a-half-year-old grandson Nhial for four days – walking all day, every day, stopping only for a brief rest at midday.

She was carrying him to a camp for those who had fled their homes in the desperate hope they would receive food.

When they arrived, CARE provided Nhial with a highly nutritious peanut paste for malnourished children and he started to regain his strength.

CARE health workers diagnosed Nhial with tuberculosis and told his grandmother he was so malnourished that if she had not made the four day walk when she did, he might not have survived much longer.

Nyakuok told us that in order to make the trip, she had to leave the rest of her family behind:

“I am worried about them because they have no food there and they are very young children.”

You can help CARE families like Nyakuok’s by donating to our East Africa Hunger Appeal now.