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The Doctor on a Mission to Build a Healthier South Sudan | Yohanis Riek | TED

TED06:45Added Aug 30, 2026

Yohanis Riek went from herding cattle and fighting as a child soldier to becoming the first doctor in his community in South Sudan. He shares his journey to found a nonprofit bringing health care to remote communities — empowering locals to take charge of their own health, as the world's newest country finds its place in the world. (Recorded at TED Fellows on [July 7, 2025

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. 00:03I’m Yohanis Riek,
  2. 00:05I'm a doctor and a social entrepreneur
  3. 00:07based and working in South Sudan.
  4. 00:10When I was growing up in my village, my future was to be a cattle keeper.
  5. 00:15Through being someone mobile, the nomadic culture,
  6. 00:18we became adaptive to other new culture that we learn as we migrate.
  7. 00:22And that experience enabled me to connect with a lot of other people.
  8. 00:26And so future kept changing based on the new life I was experiencing.
  9. 00:30The future was, you know, to be someone successful,
  10. 00:34someone who can be able to help that community.
  11. 00:37But when I was around 14 or 15 years,
  12. 00:41I don't know exact age, but by estimation, at that time,
  13. 00:44I was conscripted into the army forcefully.
  14. 00:47And that's how I became a child soldier.
  15. 00:51The cost of that civil war was being felt by everybody.
  16. 00:55So the regional neighbors decided to bring the two warring parties together
  17. 01:02for negotiation,
  18. 01:03which led to the peace agreement in 2005.
  19. 01:06And that was supported by the United States government.
  20. 01:10And I was sponsored by the government to go to school.
  21. 01:13When the negotiation started,
  22. 01:15the first thing first was to demobilize child soldiers from the army,
  23. 01:20and the immediate activities to do after demobilization were go to school.
  24. 01:25The first immediate motivation for me to become a doctor
  25. 01:28was seeing my family members die
  26. 01:31because of diseases that could be treated.
  27. 01:33My dad, particularly my sister, who was young at the time,
  28. 01:37you know, motivated me, when I learned about school,
  29. 01:40to study something that can help fight the disease burden in my community.
  30. 01:46I was the first to go to school in my family,
  31. 01:49and also the first to become a doctor.
  32. 01:51And not only my immediate family, but in my community.
  33. 01:542009 was my first year at university,
  34. 01:57and that's when I also started my nonprofit organization
  35. 02:01called Yo' Care South Sudan.
  36. 02:02Yo' Care South Sudan is a non-profit health care organization
  37. 02:06that is focused on infectious disease control and management,
  38. 02:10as well as the primary-care part of the health system.
  39. 02:14Through static health facilities
  40. 02:16and also through mobile medical teams that go to communities
  41. 02:20that are far away from our health facilities,
  42. 02:22where the gaps are huge and people continue to die every day.
  43. 02:27For the last 17 years, we've had many successes.
  44. 02:31We are proud that we have saved lives.
  45. 02:33When we vaccinate children, children are able to go to school
  46. 02:37and they are able to become an important member of society.
  47. 02:41There are children that have gone to school now.
  48. 02:43If we did not do that vaccination,
  49. 02:45maybe they would have died from those childhood diseases
  50. 02:48that are preventable.
  51. 02:50We understand that as an organization,
  52. 02:53we cannot be able to do everything by ourselves,
  53. 02:55so we help communities organize themselves.
  54. 02:58The people who come to our health facilities,
  55. 03:00we train them.
  56. 03:01Many patients that we observed became service providers themselves.
  57. 03:06One of our patients, called Lillian, later on became a peer navigator.
  58. 03:11Now she is able to identify people who are also suffering
  59. 03:15and referring them to the health centers for them to come for testing
  60. 03:19and also to come to get their medication,
  61. 03:22as well as delivering the training,
  62. 03:25delivering medical services to the people who cannot access medical facilities.
  63. 03:30People must be able to take charge of their own health.
  64. 03:33Luckily, our name, Yo' Care, means the care we provide is yours.
  65. 03:37Wherever we work, we organize the community.
  66. 03:39We train them so they can take charge of the future.
  67. 03:44Yo' Care focuses on long-term health solutions
  68. 03:47because we understand that health is not just an immediate need,
  69. 03:51it's a long-term need.
  70. 03:53And because of that, some of the solutions we provide
  71. 03:56have been funded by external donors such as USAID
  72. 04:00or US government.
  73. 04:01And when the current US government came into power,
  74. 04:04we got an abrupt notification.
  75. 04:07"Tomorrow, we suspend all activities."
  76. 04:10So that had the immediate effect on us.
  77. 04:13The first immediate effect was on the patients.
  78. 04:16Before this happened,
  79. 04:19we had more than 60,000 people that were relying on our medical services.
  80. 04:24As of now, we are supporting 32,000.
  81. 04:28Thousands of communities
  82. 04:30are not able to access basic health care services.
  83. 04:33And also from having eight health facilities that were directly supporting
  84. 04:38to only two facilities right now that we are supporting.
  85. 04:43Our manpower reduced from 53
  86. 04:47to only eight essential staff.
  87. 04:50Now when that suddenly cut, they ask us, "Where do we go?"
  88. 04:54"Where do we go?"
  89. 04:55Patients are also asking us, "Where do we go?
  90. 04:57Why did you cut this?"
  91. 04:59Didn't allow us time to prepare to close.
  92. 05:01It didn't allow us time to look for other financing alternatives.
  93. 05:06That threatens the very existence of the organization.
  94. 05:11The most important thing to invest in is the people.
  95. 05:14There is no country without people in the first place.
  96. 05:18We are the youngest nation in the world right now.
  97. 05:21In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country.
  98. 05:25Given that it's not part of that global community yet
  99. 05:29in terms of technology, in terms of media, in terms of other connectedness,
  100. 05:33we feel neglected.
  101. 05:36We have ongoing conflict,
  102. 05:38we have natural, climate issues.
  103. 05:41Our voices are not being heard.
  104. 05:44My hope for the future,
  105. 05:45first, as a doctor, is a healthy society.
  106. 05:48And that is what we're working for.
  107. 05:50Because when the community is stable, when society is stable,
  108. 05:53we will contribute meaningfully to the world
  109. 05:55and people will know us for positive things
  110. 05:58instead of being known for conflict and suffering.
  111. 06:01Having a new country is just like when you have a new home.
  112. 06:05You just bought your new house,
  113. 06:07you are very excited, you are very happy.
  114. 06:09You finally have something you can call home.
  115. 06:12And that is the experience that we have as a nation.
  116. 06:15Even if we are in crisis, protracted crisis, persistent crisis,
  117. 06:20we are very happy that --
  118. 06:21personally, I'm very proud that I have a country
  119. 06:24because I believe one day,
  120. 06:26through the contribution I'm making
  121. 06:27or through the contributions of others,
  122. 06:29we will be better
  123. 06:31despite the challenges we are currently facing.