Every year, the United Nations publishes the World Happiness Report (WHR), ranking over 150 countries according to how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.

In this year’s report, which focused on happiness and the community, South Sudan came bottom of the list at number 156, below the Central African Republic and Afghanistan, two other countries wracked by years of war and instability.

Chris de Bode has visited the country on a number of occasions. His last visit took him to Aweil State in the country’s Northwest where he photographed 144 schoolchildren who are making do with the little they have in schools that have minimal resources.

These children represent the country’s future – a country that has been mired in war for over five out of the last 8 years since it gained independence in 2011.