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News From Noeleen: It has been some time since I have written from here in the refugee
settlement. Time seems to go so fast here. I continue to work with the refugees in the camp,
who are desperately trying to salvage what little of their lives there is. The people here are quite
sick and it is my work to distribute medicine to them daily. I employ four others to help me, but
their salary is a mere $100 per month, however this helps them to buy food for their families or
send someone to school. The people’s illnesses range from Malaria to TB to HIV and endless lists
of other diseases. On an average day 500 people will be treated with medicine.
There are many health centers within the camp but no medicine. The camp itself is like one big
desert where almost 300,000 people live but there is not much of anything except little grass
thatched huts. People live a very mere existence here where they receive 12 kilos of maize and 2
cups of beans per month. Other than that they must fend for themselves. The South Sudanese
are very traumatized from the war, so much to the point that when I take photographs, some of
the children will run away because they think my camera is a gun. We have many programs In the
camp to try and help the people such as training on sewing, hairdressing, jewellery making and
one of the ladies I pay teaches the refugees how to make sandals. All these things eases the
boredom of the people who find themselves in the situation of being in this vast place with no
freedom to do anything.
Where I live is an hour and a half to the camp in a little village called Koboko. There is about
100,000 refugees living here. Many of them come to my house looking for food and medical treatment, most of them live on the
streets and many have severe disabilities and psychiatric conditions.
I did not have running water this past 2 years but thank God I now have, it makes some difference to be able to run the tap as
opposed to collecting water from the well!
All in all we do our best here to alleviate suffering but with so many people in need, I am only touching the surface. The people are
very grateful for any assistance and regularly pray on a Sunday for all my people back home. I have a container load of medicine
coming from the United States next month and after that I am looking forward to a short break back home with my family.
Noeleen