Greater Ulang County, South Sudan - local chiefs and the Deputy Commissioner of the area came together and joined efforts with Relief International with one aim: to renovate the only airstrip.

Located in Greater Upper Nile in the northeast of the country, the area is highly remote and up until now, access has been difficult. The only way to reach Ulang was to come on small boats, or to fly in by helicopter: either costly or inefficient options. This became especially inadequate given the increase in humanitarian needs, as large numbers of people are fleeing to this area.

So it is that 46 people, day after day and under a scorching sun, chopped down trees, filled in holes in the ground and laid down a fully functioning landing strip for the Buffalo airplane to land and deliver life-saving cargo. Now, after a week of hard labour, the airstrip is finally ready for the aircraft

The Buffalo fixed-wing airplane will be delivering relief items for 15 national and international NGOs operating in this hard-to-reach region. The transport service will be facilitated by the Logistics Cluster to ensure a coordinated response and the best use of the asset for the wider humanitarian community. The Ulang airstrip is the second runway rehabilitated by Relief International in the past 14 months.

The Logistics Cluster and the humanitarian community in South Sudan thank Relief International and all those who helped for their outstanding work to make the response in Ulang more efficient and cost effective.