Not even a year old and the country of South Sudan is struggling to survive, as a result from disputes with their former brethren to the north: Sudan.

(Reuters) - South Sudan's citizens who paid in blood for their independence in a long liberation war are being told freedom carries its own price - in hardship. 

An oil shutdown from January by the former bush rebels who now run the world's newest nation has strangled the flow of dollars into an economy that produces almost nothing else, and sent the South Sudanese pound tumbling against the greenback.

This has hiked the costs of everything from fuel to cooking oil, rice, charcoal and bananas. It is forcing the government to cut education and health spending in a state whose development indicators were already near the foot of world rankings.

Does the fight for survival threaten South Sudan's independence? And what do these conditions of daily living do to the spirit of this country's people?

"It's OK, we can make it," said student David Kasubi after hearing President Kiir's appeal for more belt-tightening. But the 27-year-old student admits he is struggling to find a job.

"We are proud of our independence. Even though we have hunger we can bear it, because this is our home now," he said.

Read the entire article to find out how the World Bank and UN humanitarian aid has responded.