Nearly four million people, or roughly a third of the country's population, have been forced from their homes by the conflict in South Sudan.

Some have fled to neighbouring countries, while others have been living in the sprawling camps surrounding United Nations bases across South Sudan. Others, including thousands of members of the Shilluk tribe, have been moving from town to town through the bush as front lines sweep across the country.

This past May, more than 17,000 Shilluk settled in what was once a small village, Aburoc, straddling a dry river bed. They were desperately clinging to their ancestral homeland as the fighting pushed them closer towards the border with Sudan.

"I'm afraid," Sunday Odok told Al Jazeera. "I don't know what's happening, and what will happen tomorrow."