South Sudan Emergency Appeal for 600 Refugees

The people who we have been helping through this project had lost virtually everything when they were forced out of their homes. The elderly and those with disabilities have suffered more than most with no help but from those around them. But during the summer, our project started to build hope for these people with the provision of food to eat and the tools and seeds to grow their own food sustainably. After serveral deliveries of aid and resources we started to see the harvests from the early deliveries which brought joy to us all.

But in November we received news that the fighting in South Sudan had spread further south and opposing sides were now fighting in the IDP camps themselves. Those who could, fled in the night but many were left in the camps to pray that they would be spared. One elderly man shared his experience of lying in his shelter as bullets flew over his head, unable to run away with others. He knew the stories of indiscriminate killing by soldiers on both sides and feared for his life as armed men approached him. Thankfully he was spared along with most others but everyone has now been forced over the border into Uganda having lost their crops.

While this is sad news, we still have hope. Our CEO visited the region again in December and was elated to see many of the people he’d met in the IDP camps earlier in the year. They told harrowing stories but as many as 400 people had turned out to come and give feedback on the programme we’d been running. Many of them were eating the produce from the harvest our programme had made possible. In fact the feedback was that 80% of the harvests were successful, a great encouragement to us. This was a great moment for our CEO, to see these people still positive and benefiting from the programme.

Through our relationships with UNHCR who run the camps in Uganda, we can still continue our work with these vulnerable people. We are providing more emergency food aid and shelters as most came over the border with nothing.

One positive of these people being forced into Uganda is that we can now help those with disabilities in a bigger way. In December, we helped to distribute 91 adapted wheelchairs to refugees in need, including some who had recently fled the IDP camps. This project was delivered in partnership with the Walkabout Foundation and sponsored by Euromonitor International and we thank them both for the opportunity to make a big difference in this way.

So despite this set back, our work to help these marginalised people goes on. We send our thanks to GlobalGiving and all those who contribute for enabling us to help even more people.

Links:

• HHA news articles