Tauranga woman Destinee Macleod, her husband and two small girls are living in a two-room house, in South Sudan.
Their home has no ceiling, has branches for purlins, no windows and a dilapidated door - but there is no place they would rather be.
After the longest civil war in the history of Africa, South Sudan won their independence from Sudan in 2011, making it the world's youngest country.
During the bloody civil war the United Nations estimated more than two million people from South Sudan lost their lives. Countless more were raped, tortured, displaced or sold into slavery in the north.
This year South Sudan over took Somalia as the most fragile nation in the world.
Destinee Macleod, Dux of Tauranga Girl's College in 2002, has been based in Tonj, South Sudan with her husband Jonathan Macleod, 30, and two daughters Zoe, 2, and Ellisha, 8 months, and is volunteering with In Deed and Truth (IDAT) since mid September this year.
To survive and fund the work they are doing in Sudan, they have rented out their home in Tauranga for $420 a week which pays for all their food, bills and medical supplies.
Mrs Macleod said she met her husband at Auckland University during medical school. The pair shared common goals for their futures.
After graduating and getting married in 2008, they worked at numerous smaller hospitals in New Zealand and Australia to gain experience. Mrs Macleod specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology and Mr Macleod in paediatrics.
In 2012, the Macleods worked at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya with their then three-month-old daughter Zoe.
"We loved it, but felt called to somewhere more in need. Kenya is quite developed.
"But during our time in Kenya, we were given the opportunity, through an organisation called World Gospel Mission (WGM) to visit South Sudan. We saw the absolutely overwhelming needs, the lack of infrastructure and medical care, and the opportunity for us to make a real difference in public health. So here we are," Mrs Macleod said.
There are only 120 doctors and 100 nurses caring for 11.5 million people in Sudan. It has the highest rate of death in pregnancy and childbirth in the world and one in six children die before they reach their first birthday. Only 15 per cent of people have access to any form of health care and only two per cent of children are immunised.
However, despite this and her first impressions of her "very hot and very poor" new home, "Sudan is the type of place we are made to be".
The family plan on being based in the small town of Tonj for the next five years, if not more, and are trying to build a new house, plant a vegetable garden and are learning the local languages and can speak 20 to 30 phrases in Dinka now.
Mrs Macleod said although they had been enjoying their work, life was cheap in Sudan.
"Last Tuesday, I had my first maternal death. A young lady, totally healthy, whose only mistake was being born a female in South Sudan.
"Women do not choose if or when they become pregnant, and most have no access to antenatal care that could prevent complications.
Destinee and a midwife, Annie, carry out an ultrasound on a pregnant mother after successfully turning her baby that had been breech. The husband in the photo was so happy he promised to buy Destinee a goat. One in 10 women in South Sudan die as a result of birth complications. Photo / Supplied
"She was brought in close to death after having been bleeding for almost 12 hours from undiagnosed placenta praevia, in New Zealand this would have been picked up on routine ultrasound and she would have delivered by cesarean section. Her baby had already died and despite our best efforts she died soon after arrival. So, so sad and so needless."
Despite the challenges, the couple are excited about the difference they can make.
"I guess one could have exactly the same outlook working in a job in New Zealand, but in New Zealand, if we weren't there someone else would be employed in our place. Here there would be no one else."
With the Ebola virus striking the western side of Africa, once again the famine in South Sudan in looming.
"Food shortages are predicted to worsen dramatically over the coming months as existing supplies diminish.
"Already food in our town is five to 10 times the price it was last year and average families are starting to skip meals. In fact, the coming famine is predicted to be the worst since the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s. The United Nations predicts that 50,000 children will die before the end of this year."
Nonetheless, this is a crisis the MacLeods are determined to take on. To check out more stories from the Macleods head to the "Macleods on a Mission" Facebook page or "Kiwis For South Sudan" on Givealittle.
A story from Tonj, Sudan
This is Nyanut. Today I asked her why she didn't bring her sick 1-year-old back to our clinic last night for another dose of antibiotics as we had agreed - she said she couldn't leave her kids at home alone.
So I asked her how many kids she had. She had five but only thee were still alive, the other two died as young children from infections.
Then I asked her why her husband couldn't look after the kids? He died last year of malaria.
I asked how far away her home was. She said she walked three hours each way yesterday to see us, then three hours each way again today.
Then I was really stupid and asked if they had enough food at home but nobody has enough food in Tonj. The roads are all closed from flooding and the civil war prevented any seeds being distributed for planting this year -- she said no. She said she had one sack of peanuts that she had harvested and planned to sell -- but while she came to see us yesterday someone came and stole that sack and her two little children could not stop the thief. Our clinic is crazy busy so there's not usually time for a social history, but once a week I ask one of our patients their life story. Usually I wish I'd never asked.
