Melancholic. Magnanimous. Massive or miserable. And, most importantly, multidirectional. Roads can be all of that, and more. Bangladeshi peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have just completed the makeover of the stretch connecting the Hai Inkas neighbourhood with downtown Torit, making it a delight to cruise or walk along.

Jennifer Emmanuel, an elementary school pupil in Hai Inkas, gives the road her delicate thumbs up with a brief but rave review before scampering off at a decent clip.

“It makes all the difference in the world, because now we will be all neat and clean when we arrive for our classes. With the old road, on rainy days, we would have to remove our shoes and socks to venture across all the mud. It was rather unpleasant,” she said.

Some benefits of the improved road are less obvious than others. While traders, commuters, law enforcement agents can now move quicker to popular destinations like the main market, health facilities and schools, they can also do so in a much safer fashion, in more than one way.

Not only will they be less likely to get stuck in the mud and become easy prey for criminals - having donned footwear suitable for the terrain - lying in ambush, but they will also be less vulnerable to attacks by snakes and malaria-carrying mosquitoes, born in the millions in potholes concealed by stagnant water.

“Many road users used to get robbed at night, but this upgraded surface will make such unfortunate incidents a thing of the past,” said Brigadier General Mariano Oholong, a proud resident of Hai Inkas, adding that bills for treating family members struck by malaria will be fewer and farther between.

Anthony Nwapa, Acting Head of the peacekeeping mission’s Field Office in Torit, points out that size does not always matter when the cause itself is great and noble.

“It may be only a tiny portion of road that our engineering colleagues have rehabilitated, but this initiative is in line with our mandate to protect civilians and will be of significant everyday assistance to countless citizens going about their lives. That, I believe, is worth celebrating.”