Image copyright German Foreign Office Image caption Foreigners airlifted from South Sudan 
 
 Several countries are evacuating their citizens from South Sudan following days of fighting that saw hundreds of people killed. 
 
 Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan, India and Uganda have already started taking their citizens out of the country. 
 
 A ceasefire between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar is holding for a second day in the capital, Juba. 
 
 Mr Machar and his troops have also left Juba "to avoid further confrontation". 
 
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 The evacuations are being carried out by military and chartered planes, as commercial flights have not yet resumed. 
 
 However, Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed has told the BBC that Kenyan nationals would not be evacuated, as the ceasefire in South Sudan was holding. 
 
 The US embassy in Juba said it was organising flights to evacuate non-essential staff and all US citizens wishing to leave. 
 
 President Barack Obama later announced 47 troops were being sent to protect the US embassy and its staff. 
 
 He added that 130 more personnel were being sent to Djibouti to stand ready for deployment if necessary. 
 
 Germany's foreign ministry said its air force was evacuating other European nationals, as well as its own citizens. 
 
 During the fighting, Mr Machar's base in Juba was overrun. 
 
 Mr Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak told the BBC that the vice-president was now near the capital but refused to be more specific. 
 
 He called for an international buffer force to be deployed to avoid "further confrontation" and ensure that the ceasefire holds. 
 
 How did we get here? 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Gunfire erupted shortly after Mr Machar (L) and Mr Kiir (R) met on Friday 
 
 July 2011 - South Sudan becomes an independent country after more than 20 years of guerrilla warfare, which claimed the lives of at least 1.5 million people and displaced more than four million. 
 
 December 2013 - Civil war breaks out after President Salva Kiir sacks the cabinet and accuses Vice-President Riek Machar of planning a coup. The war is fought broadly between the country's biggest ethnic groups - the Dinka, led by Mr Kiir, and the Nuer, under Mr Machar. 
 
 More than 2.2 million people are displaced by the fighting. Famine puts the lives of thousands at risk. Tens of thousands of people are reported killed, and Mr Machar flees the country. 
 
 August 2015 - President Kiir signs a peace deal with rebels after a threat of sanctions from the UN. 
 
 April 2016 - Mr Machar returns to South Sudan to take up his job as first vice-president in a new unity government led by President Kiir. ||||| “Civilians were not only caught up in the violence, they were directly targeted, often along ethnic lines,” the report states. 
 
 South Sudanese government officials could not be reached for comment. 
 
 The report is likely to boost calls for sanctions, which the United States began this week with a freezing of assets and travel bans on two people, one from each side of the conflict. 
 
 But it also underscores the difficulties facing the United Nations mission here. From the start, it has tried to support the fledgling nation. Now that the government is a party to a gruesome conflict, the Security Council is considering a change to its mandate so that it functions in a neutral capacity, with the principal goal of protecting civilians. 
 
 Civil war has engulfed South Sudan since December, when clashes erupted between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to his former vice president, Riek Machar. The conflict soon took on an ethnic dimension between South Sudan’s two largest groups, the Dinka and the Nuer. Mr. Kiir is a Dinka, while Mr. Machar is a Nuer. 
 
 Thousands of people have been killed; more than a million have been displaced; and the United Nations has warned that famine threatens much of the country. 
 
 The peacekeeping mission’s report, based on interviews with more than 900 victims and witnesses, said that “from the very outset of the violence, gross violations of human rights and serious violations of humanitarian law have occurred on a massive scale.” 
 
 But the recent scale of violence, especially here in Bentiu, prompted one United Nations official to call it a “game changer.” 
 
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 “I never thought the day would come when people would flee to Darfur,” said Toby Lanzer, the United Nations official in charge of coordinating the relief effort in South Sudan. 
 
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 Last month, hundreds of civilians were killed when rebel forces took control of Bentiu, the capital of the oil-rich Unity State. Rebel forces, according to residents and the United Nations, separated groups of residents — who had sought refuge in churches, mosques and hospitals — by their ethnicity and nationality. Members of the ethnic Nuer group who did not support the rebels, along with South Sudanese people from other ethnic groups and nationalities, were targeted and killed. 
 
 “The soldiers entered my house and asked, ‘Are you Dinka?’ ” said Naynatong Mamjok, 35, a mother of four. “When I said ‘yes,’ a soldier said ‘leave.’ ” She said she ran with her children to the nearby United Nations base, but her husband was not as fortunate: He was shot outside. 
 
 James Kuan Chol, a Nuer commander with the rebel forces that took control of Bentiu, dismissed accusations that groups were targeted based on their ethnicity. 
 
 “The U.N. is biased,” he said. “They did not talk about what happened to the Nuer in Malakal,” a city east of Bentiu along the White Nile River. “My problem is that my people have been killed,” he said. 
 
 Gaw Both, 25, a Nuer student, said he was hanging out with seven of his friends at his house in Juba, the capital, on an evening in December, drinking tea, when suddenly they heard gunshots. They decided to stay put until morning. That’s when government soldiers knocked on his door. 
 
 “ ‘Are you Nuer from Fangak, Bentiu, Nasir or Akobo,’ a soldier asked us,” Mr. Both said, listing Nuer regions in South Sudan. “Those from Bentiu, Akobo and Nasir were slaughtered immediately by knives,” Mr. Both said. “The rest of us were jailed.” 
 
 Mr. Both spent 12 days in a metal container with other students. Detainees, he said, were separated according to profession: students in one container, soldiers in another, and the rest in another. 
 
 The cycle of revenge killings that started in Juba and continued in Bentiu has brought greater international pressure on both sides of the conflict. Slow-moving negotiations have moved up a gear, with both sides scheduled to meet Friday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. 
 
 The talks would follow recent visits to Juba by Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations. On Monday, delegations from both sides agreed to open humanitarian corridors so aid could reach civilians. They also agreed to consider a “month of tranquillity” to help the flow of aid and enable people to plant crops, care for livestock and move to safer areas. 
 
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 “It’s very good that the two leaders have agreed to meet,” said Hilde F. Johnson, head of the United Nations mission in South Sudan. “But if we don’t see action on a number of fronts now, we are seeing a perfect storm coming.” ||||| Media caption President Salva Kiir told James Copnall a peaceful solution was still possible 
 
 South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has told the BBC he will enter peace talks, claiming his forces have captured the key town of Bor. 
 
 He had previously demanded 11 detainees accused of being co-conspirators in the coup plan be freed before negotiations. 
 
 He denies there was a plot - alleged by his rival President Salva Kiir. 
 
 Uganda's president has threatened the rebels with military action if they fail to agree to a ceasefire by the end of Tuesday, and begin talks. 
 
 In a BBC interview on Monday, President Kiir ruled out any power sharing with Mr Machar to halt violence that has killed at least 1,000 people in the last two weeks. 
 
 Analysis By sending a delegation to Addis Ababa, Riek Machar has agreed to one of the mediators' key demands - but not the other. The rebel leader told me he would not order his troops to stop fighting. This is something, he said, that can be discussed in Ethiopia. Regional leaders had wanted a cessation of hostilities and talks to begin by the end of the year. The attack on Bor was a clear attempt by Mr Machar to show his military power, which will strengthen his hand in any negotiations. He also said his delegation will be led by Rebecca Nyandeng, the widow of the South Sudanese hero John Garang. As a Dinka, she may help Mr Machar challenge the allegation that his rebellion is primarily from his Nuer ethnic group. It is interesting that Mr Machar is now admitting that the "white army" - an ethnic militia - is "part of" his army. This will not do much for his popularity in many parts of South Sudan. 
 
 "These men have rebelled. If you want power, you don't rebel so that you are rewarded with the power. You go through the process," he said. 
 
 Mr Kiir has consistently refused to release Mr Machar's political allies, arrested when he made the coup plot allegations. 
 
 'Big fight' 
 
 It has not been confirmed whether Bor has fallen to Mr Machar's forces - a mix of mutinous soldiers loyal to him and an ethnic militia called the "white army", known for putting white ash onto their bodies as a kind of war-paint. 
 
 A UN spokesman said the town of Bor had come under attack at day break, not far from the town's UN compound. 
 
 A South Sudanese army spokesman confirmed a "big fight" had happened. 
 
 Later, Mr Machar told the BBC he was sending a delegation to Addis Ababa for peace talks, where he will discuss a ceasefire. 
 
 He also said his delegation will be led by Rebecca Nyandeng, the widow of John Garang, who led South Sudanese rebel forces against Khartoum for many years. 
 
 The BBC's James Copnall in the capital, Juba, says as a Dinka she may help Mr Machar challenge the allegation that his rebellion is primarily from his Nuer ethnic group. 
 
 According to the AFP news agency, both parties are expected in the Ethiopian capital soon. 
 
 "Both President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar are coming to Addis Ababa for talks, they are coming now and should meet today," Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told the agency. 
 
 Talks in South Sudan's troubled history have often been preceded by renewed fighting, to allow the belligerents to go to the negotiating table in a position of strength, our reporter says. 
 
 Image caption Talks in South Sudan's history have often been preceded by renewed fighting 
 
 In recent days, thousands of people have fled from Bor, the capital of Jonglei state. 
 
 The fighting initially broke out more than two weeks ago in Juba, and has now spread to many parts of the country. 
 
 At least 1,000 people have died and more than 121,600 are believed to have fled their homes. 
 
 The UK has announced a £12.5m ($20.6m) aid package to support organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies, to provide tents, emergency health care and other supplies. 
 
 Mr Machar was President Kiir's deputy until he was sacked in July. 
 
 What began as a power struggle between the two men has taken on overtones of an ethnic conflict. The Dinka, to which Mr Kiir belongs, are pitted against the Nuer, from which Mr Machar hails. 
 
 Image caption Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his Nuer ex-deputy Riek Machar. The fear is that their rivalry which has turned violent will exacerbate ethnic tensions. 
 
 Image caption Sudan's arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam. 
 
 Image caption Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan's budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state - at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north 
 
 Image caption The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest. 
 
 Image caption After gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world's newest country - and one of its poorest. Figures from 2010 show some 69% of households now have access to clean water - up from 48% in 2006. However, just 2% of households have water on the premises. 
 
 Image caption Just 29% of children attend primary school in South Sudan - however this is also an improvement on the 16% recorded in 2006. About 32% of primary-age boys attend, while just 25% of girls do. Overall, 64% of children who begin primary school reach the last grade. ||||| A "false" Facebook post on South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar account caused the death of 272 people following renewed fighting among rival forces. 
 
 The country's embassy in Nairobi claimed James Gatdet, an official in the joint administration allegedly told Machar's army - through an update on the account - that he had been detained by President Salva Kiir forces at the palace. 
 
 Ambassador Chol Ajongo said it is this information that led the army to respond, causing the fighting in the capital Juba which entered its fifth day on Tuesday. 
 
 "On July 8, 2016, the SPLA-IO forces Spokesman James Gatdet, Press Secretary of Dr Riek Machar created and spread rumours that their leader Dr Riek Machar Teny was under arrest," Ajongo said at a press briefing. 
 
 "This was false, because Machar was attending a security briefing meeting with President Kiir, Vice President James Wani and other senior government officials at the J1 (presidential palace)," he said. 
 
 "Sudan's People Liberation Army In Opposition forces proceeded to attack the government forces at J1 at 4.15 and killed many innocent soldiers," he said. 
 
 Ajongo said that after the post was published on Friday, a member of Machar’s troops forced his way into the palace. 
 
 But he was denied access leading to a confrontation between the officer and security at the gate, the tiff causing injury of a security officer. 
 
 "One of the officers came into the palace and wanted to force his way through the doors to where the meeting was taking place. He was denied access to the building. He then shot the officer and the fighting broke out," the envoy claimed. 
 
 The Ambassador said the “falsehood” was spread when Machar was attending a security meeting with Kiir and other top government officials. 
 
 Ajongo, who was posted to Kenya in June, said: "President Kiir protected Dr Machar’s life until 11.40pm when he personally arranged for armed security escort to take him back safely to his residence in Jebel Kujor area." 
 
 He accused Machar-allied forces of pursuing conflict despite the agreement signed in August 2015 that drafted a power sharing agreement. 
 
 "Anti-peace elements within the SPLA-IO have totally disregarded peace and decided a return to war," he said. 
 
 He said the SPLA-IO were roaming the streets at night while heavily armed and without clear purpose, and refused to stop at check-points. He also said they shot at vehicles including one of the United States of America Embassy in Juba. 
 
 The Ambassador said Juba International Airport reopened on Tuesday and further dismissed calls by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) to send peacekeeping forces to the nation. 
 
 "They (Igad) should tell whether the troops will be imposed on us or an invasion on our sovereign country," he said. 
 
 On Monday, ministers from the regional bloc held a special summit in Nairobi after which senior official Tedros Adhanom urged all parties to engage in dialogue instead of violence. 
 
 He also fronted the possibility of sending Africa Union peacekeeping teams to the clash-torn country, which did not get the chance to celebrate its fifth independence on Saturday. 
 
 The renewed fighting started on Friday near State House when former rebel leader Machar Kiir were having a meeting. 
 
 The fighting has since led to deaths of 272 people, including civilians and displaced thousands of others. 
 
 Read: 15 Kenyan truck drivers killed in South Sudan violence - union 
 
 The Kakuma refugee camp is expected to receive more refugees as Kenya opens its border with South Sudan. 
 
 "There are no new arrivals so far. But we are closely monitoring the situation with the Kenya Directorate of Refugee Affairs," said UNHCR-Kenya spokesman Duke Mwancha. 
 
 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an arms embargo against South Sudan and appealed to the UN Security Council to target sanctions against those involved in the fighting. 
 
 Thousands have been displaced by the standoff in Juba and are sheltering at two UN bases, a World Food Programme compound and other areas. ||||| JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan’s government and rebels finally began talks to end weeks of bloodletting on Friday after days of delay as the United States ordered out more of its embassy staff. 
 
 Marines and sailors with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response help U.S. citizens into a Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules airplane during an evacuation of personnel from the U.S. Embassy, in this handout photo taken in Juba, South Sudan, January 3, 2014, courtesy of the U.S. Marines. REUTERS/U.S. Marines/Staff Sgt. Robert L. Fisher III/Handout via Reuters 
 
 However, there was no face-to-face meeting, and fighting was reported near the key town of Bor, suggesting that a halt to clashes between President Salva Kiir’s SPLA government forces and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar is still a long way off. 
 
 Neighboring countries fear that the fighting, which quickly spread out from the capital Juba last month along ethnic faultlines, could destabilize East Africa, and the regional IGAD grouping is mediating the peace talks in Ethiopia. 
 
 The talks had been scheduled to begin in Addis Ababa on January 1, and made a slow start on Friday. 
 
 “Both delegations are meeting the mediators separately,” said Dina Mufti, a spokesman for Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry. “We hope to bring both sides into face-to-face talks soon.” 
 
 Meanwhile the SPLA said its troops were fighting rebels 24 km (14 miles) south of rebel-controlled Bor, the capital of the vast Jonglei state and site of an ethnic massacre in 1991. 
 
 Bor lies 190 km (118 miles) to the north of Juba and has changed hands three times since the unrest began. 
 
 “The rebels will be flushed out of Bor any time,” SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said. 
 
 Rebel spokesman Moses Ruai Lat, based in the northern state of Unity, said it was the government forces who were on the back foot and his advancing comrades were already “close” to Juba. 
 
 200,000 DISPLACED 
 
 More than a thousand people have been killed and 200,000 driven from their homes in three weeks of fighting that has raised the specter of a civil war pitting Kiir’s ethnic Dinkas against Machar’s Nuer. 
 
 The United States has been withdrawing non-essential embassy staff since mid-December and said Friday it was evacuating more. 
 
 It also urged all American citizens to leave South Sudan - a country the size of France estimated to hold the third largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa, but desperately poor and short of infrastructure. 
 
 “We are not suspending our operations. We are just minimizing our presence,” said Susan Page, the U.S. ambassador. 
 
 More than 440 U.S. officials and private citizens have been evacuated on charter flights and military aircraft, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in Washinton. The United States has also flown out 750 citizens of 27 other countries. 
 
 The Pentagon sent two KC-130 aircraft to pick up approximately 20 U.S. diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Juba, said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman. One landed and the other one circled nearby in case it was needed. 
 
 An emergency message to U.S. citizens on the embassy’s website said the move was due to a “deteriorating security situation”. It said there would be an evacuation flight on Friday arranged by the U.S. State Department. 
 
 Slideshow (17 Images) 
 
 Kiir has accused his long-term political rival Machar, whom he sacked in July, of starting the fighting in a bid to seize power. Machar denies the claim. 
 
 Mediators say Kiir’s government and the rebels loyal to Machar have agreed in principle to a ceasefire, but there is no agreement on a starting date and some diplomats say both sides still seem more intent on maneuvering for military advantage. 
 
 The United Nations said it was planning for the number of displaced people to double in the next three months. ||||| Fresh clashes have broken out in the South Sudanese capital Juba, and at least 66 soldiers have been killed, a day after President Salva Kiir said security forces had put down an attempted coup by supporters of his former deputy. 
 
 The US embassy said on its Twitter account late on Tuesday that that all of its citizens in the country should "depart immediately". The account tweeted that it would outline evacuation options on Wednesday morning. 
 
 "So far we have lost seven soldiers who died while they were waiting for medical attention and a further 59 who were killed outside," doctor Ajak Bullen said on the local Radio Miraya. 
 
 Poor communications in Juba, where the mobile phone system has not operated since Monday evening, meant it was difficult to obtain a broad picture of the number of dead during the clashes, which have involved heavy arms and artillery. 
 
 
 
 Kiir said on Monday the fighting between army factions was a bid to seize power by the former vice president, Riek Machar, whom he sacked in July. 
 
 The two men, from different ethnic groups, which have clashed in the past, have long been political rivals. Analysts said divisions between them run deep and rivalries in army ranks have long simmmered. 
 
 Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from neighbouring Nairobi, spoke to South Sudan's Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth who confirmed at least 10 very senior former government officials have been arrested, including six cabinet ministers. The government named the men on its website. 
 
 There are conflicting reports about the whereabouts of Riek Machar. The government claims he is on his way to Unity State, whereas Machar's spokesperson said he is in fine condition and "very much still in Juba", Rageh said. 
 
 Heavy weapons 
 
 Gunfire - including the sporadic firing of heavy weapons - resumed in the early hours of Tuesday and was still audible at 9am (0600 GMT). It appeared to come from a military headquarters, a few kilometres from the centre of town. 
 
 Residents near Juba airport, which has been closed since Monday, were woken before dawn by gunshots and blasts, a UN worker said. Others also reported bouts of shooting. 
 
 The streets of Juba were deserted, with only military vehicles to be seen and civilians barricaded in their homes. 
 
 Kiir had said in a statement on Monday that security forces had regained control, although a dawn-to-dusk curfew had been imposed. 
 
 "The attackers went and [the] armed forces are pursuing them," Kiir said. "I promise you today that justice will prevail." 
 
 Details of the claimed coup remained sketchy, but South Sudan's Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the Associated Press news agency that troops in the main army base raided a weapons store in Juba but were repulsed. 
 
 Civilians take refuge 
 
 The UN deputy special representative for South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that about 16,000 civilians were now taking refuge from the fighting in two UN compounds. 
 
 "We will of course do everything we can do protect people. Many people who are coming require health care of all types," he said. 
 
 "Some people have been injured. We've got challenges of a variety - and the water and sanitation situation is also something that we are grappling with." 
 
 Tension had been mounting in South Sudan since Kiir's sacking of Machar. The men belong to different ethnic groups - Kiir to the Dinka, the most powerful, and Machar to the Nuer, but it is not clear whether this latest tension is due to ethnic or political divisions. 
 
 Machar, who has expressed a willingness to contest the presidency in 2015, told Al Jazeera in July that if the country is to be united it cannot tolerate "one man's rule or it cannot tolerate dictatorship." 
 
 His sacking, part of a wider dismissal of the entire cabinet by Kiir, had followed reports of a power struggle within the ruling party. 
 
 South Sudan's government has struggled to create a functioning state since it declared independence from Sudan in 2011 after years conflict with Khartoum during a war that often saw south-south clashes. ||||| NAIROBI (Reuters) - A United States citizen working in South Sudan as a freelance journalist was among 19 people killed on Saturday during fighting between government troops and rebels in Yei River state, the rebels and the military said. 
 
 Christopher Allen, who worked for various news outlets, was killed in heavy fighting in the town of Kaya. South Sudan has been convulsed by conflict since late 2013, pitting President Salva Kiir’s troops against those of rebel leader Riek Machar. 
 
 “On the ground, about 16 (bodies) have been found around the defensive position of the SPLA including this white man,” Santo Domic Chol, a military spokesman, told Reuters. Three government soldiers were also killed, he said. 
 
 The rebels identified him as Allen, who had been embedded with them for the past week. 
 
 “We are sad for his family. He came here to tell our story ,” said one rebel who knew Allen. He asked not to be named but said Allen had been in the middle of the fighting and wearing a jacket marked PRESS. 
 
 Chol said the rebels had attacked an army base in Kaya but they were repulsed after an hour-long fight. 
 
 The U.S. government did not respond immediately when Reuters sought comment. 
 
 The country spiraled into civil war, with fighting along ethnic lines, after Kiir sacked Machar in late 2013. 
 
 A peace accord was signed in August 2015 and Machar returned to the capital in April last year to share power with Kiir, before the deal fell apart less than three months later and Machar and his supporters fled the capital. 
 
 The conflict has forced about 4 million people to flee their homes. Uganda currently hosts more than a million South Sudanese refugees, while over 330,000 have fled to neighboring Ethiopia.
– It's a mere five years old, but South Sudan is on the brink of civil war. What's more, the situation is so dire that the US just brought in 40 additional troops to protect the US Embassy in Juba. Some coverage to explain what's happening: The fight is between forces backing President Salva Kiir and those backing Vice President Riek Machar, and the DW has a primer on their long rivalry for power, one that got violent soon after the country's independence from Sudan in 2011. Read this and understand why it's SPLA-IG vs. SPLA-IO. Adding to this web: A post at the Conversation suggests that a third man, Paul Malong, might hold the real power in the country. Kenya's ambassador says the latest fighting was set off by a bogus Facebook post by Machar's spokesman saying Machar had been arrested, even though the VP actually was in a security meeting with the president. The Star of Kenya explains. The spokesman, however, says he made the post after violence had started, fearing that a plot to detain or harm Machar was underway. The US has ordered non-essential employees to evacuate, and several other countries were doing the same. The BBC has details. Few details were released on the new US troops, but they're from the US Africa Command's Crisis Response Force, reports the Marine Corps Times. They'll protect employees staying and help those leaving do so safely. In addition to reports of more than 200 people killed, the renewed fighting has displaced about 36,000 people, says the UN. Worse, even before this, "the humanitarian situation in South Sudan was already dire." Read the plea for help from a UN humanitarian official here. Aid workers in the nation face huge problems, but a 28-year-old from San Diego hasn't lost hope. See NPR.