Children welcoming our CBM Colleague Willian Wako into
their home in the Mangaten IDP Camp near Juba, South Sudan.
"William" Wako Guyo Galgallo in Nairobi, Kenya
Earlier this week we sat down with our friend William, who has just returned from working with a relief project with Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) and the Faith Evangelical Baptist Churches (FEBAC) in South Sudan.
For several years now, CBM has been working in South Sudan with our local partner in areas of relief and development. Together we seek to share the love and hope of Christ as we respond to the humanitarian crisis, relieve poverty, promote access to education, and improve food security among the poor and vulnerable communities.
Since November 2017, CBM and FEBAC have been providing monthly rations to 570 vulnerable households recently returned to the community of Melut in South Sudan's Upper Nile State. As we help these returnees establish themselves, we recognize that many more internally displaced people are desperate for peace and an opportunity to return to their farms and homes.
The newest area of this work is located on the edge of Juba in the Mangaten Internally Displaced Person's (IDP) Camp. In this blog post, we share a bit of the conversation Aaron had with William as they discussed this work.
Mangaten IDP Camp, Juba, South Sudan
Aaron: "Welcome back, William. You have been in our prayers as you travelled so far away from your family to join the project in Mangaten. Many Churches in Canada have been praying for you, for peace in South Sudan, and for the relief work with FEBAC."
William: "Thank you, I appreciate the prayers. It was my first time to travel to Juba, but all went along well. I was very grateful for Rev. Jeremiah Deng and the FEBAC team that welcomed me. Unlike Nairobi, there has not been too much rain in Juba. We had good days with the people in the camp."
A refugee family sharing their experience in Mangaten.
Aaron: "Over the years, Erica and I have visited many refugee camps and we know that everyone is different. I've been to Juba, but not to Mangaten. Can you tell me about the place and the people you met?"
William: "The camp is located Northwest of the city of Juba. I understand that the land there was vacated during fighting near the airport, and as returnees started to gather in Juba, the vacant land became one of the many IDP centres that were formed.
It is a very loud place as airplanes are always overhead. The government and Red Cross provided tents that the people are living in. In my visits, I learned that every tent is divided into two homes by a tarp hung in the middle. On each side of the tarp lives a different family."
Aaron: "It sounds crowded."
William: "Yes, in a way. I mean compared to the large camps like you've seen in Kakuma or Dadaab, Mangaten is small, about 1200 households. But the land is also squeezed. They have tents, but no place to grow food or have a livelihood. The tents are in sections, but there is only a single borehole that provides water for everyone. The borehole is located at an old school that is within the camp. The people really need better access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation."
Heads of households gathering for the supplementary ration distribution
Aaron: "What were your meetings like with the IDPs?"
William: "The people were very grateful for the help received from FEBAC and CBM. Everyone I met had been destined for Central Upper Nile State, or other states, but never made it there.
Most had fled during the conflict in early 2014, but had thought that peace would return and in late 2015, they were moving in family groups back towards the North when violence erupted again.
That is when the people were stranded in the camp. There were more, but the others turned back and fled to refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda. The families that stayed either had small children, elderly parents, or disabled family members that could not make the journey."
Aaron: "And so these people were trapped. They couldn't travel home to the North because of the conflict, but they couldn't make the dangerous trek out of South Sudan either."
William: "Exactly. They were stuck in between. But life has not been very good in Mangaten. They face hunger and harsh economic conditions. The escalation of the price of basic commodities and lack of government support is making the situation worse. I found a high level of vulnerability, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and diseases among them; with women, children, youth, and those with special needs leading the list."
Relief beneficiaries at the Mangeten school.
Aaron: "How is the local FEBAC Church trying to help?"
William: "I was very impressed by the compassion and the care that I saw as the pastors and volunteers from FEBAC worked with the relief beneficaries. You know that most of the FEBAC team are from the Dinka ethnic group, and so are most of the IDPs living in Mangaten. In the relief project, we targetted the 400 most vulnerable households. These households were often made up of seven or more people. It is only a third of the camp, but it was the camp leaders that helped to identify who was most in need of assistance.
What impressed me most was that the FEBAC leaders insisted that the minority Nuer ethnic group be included. Not just included, but the very first one hundred beneficiaries were Nuer heads of households. They were the first group to be called into the secure compound to receive food."
Aaron: "Wow! So in the camp where everyone is struggling to survive, the Dinka Christians from FEBAC wanted to make sure that the minority Nuer group went first. That must have been a significant moment."
William: "It was a great act of Christian love. The Gospel was being lived out in a powerful way."
Nuur Women bringing rations back to their families.
Aaron: "Can you tell me more about the relief distribution itself? What did the beneficiaries receive and what is the intended impact?"
William: "CBM and FEBAC have been engaged in multiple relief projects over the past four years within South Sudan, but this was the first time that they have responded to the needs in this camp. It was actually the governor of the state where many of the IDPs were from who first reached out to FEBAC and asked for them to help. He had no resources himself, but he knew people were dying of starvation in these neglected camps.
As I shared, we had resources to help only the 400 households that were most in need. The first preference was to assist families with pregnant mothers or children under the age of five. Next, there was preference given for those caring for the elderly and disabled. I can say that there is more need than we were able to satisfy.
The households that were chosen each received food rations of 30 kilograms of beans, 25 kilograms of maize flour, and two litres of cooking oil.
The people were very grateful. One mother told me that here children would have had nothing to eat if it hadn't been for the food assistance. Another man told me, “This ration will take me and my six children for the next two weeks, for a very long time we will have food in our house!’"
William with the Mangaten Camp Leaders
and members of the FEBAC Church
Aaron: "Is there anything else you would like to share as we update our friends and churches in Canada?"
William: "Please share how thankful the people of the camp are for the support and generosity of Canadian Baptists. Rev. Jeremiah Deng [the leader of the FEBAC relief team] and his team also share their appreciation for the CBM/FEBAC partnership and for the opportunity to serve the needy people in this place.
I would also like to add that these needs are not done with. We must continue to help the church bring food and hope to the people that have become refugees.
Our partners in FEBAC are refugees themselves. They are experiencing the very same dangers and harms that have impacted the people in Mangaten. One could become focused on one's own needs and forget the needs of others, but that isn't what I saw.
Instead, I witnessed them sharing the love of Christ through their words and deeds. At every wave of the food distribution, I observed Rev. Jeremiah sharing words of encouragement with the beneficiaries. Time and time again they stopped their work to pray with the people.
I can say that our brethren are demonstrating the love and kindness of Jesus by how they are willing to listen and offer help to the beneficiaries and the onlookers. The team was intentional to glorify God in their work."
FEBAC Church members praying with
leaders and residents of the Mangaten IDP Camp.
If you would like to learn more about the work of CBM in South Sudan, or how to get involved, please visit our website at www.cbmin.org
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