Hot on the heels of a very stimulating afternoon in the Margaret Aylward Centre (Dublin) on migrants and refugees comes this request from Holy Faith Sister Margo which reminds us that one does not have to leave one’s country to be a migrant or refugee. Being an IDP (internally displaced person in South Sudan differs little. Margo is currently serving with Solidarity with South Sudan . She writes:
I am here in Rimenzie, a Solidarity house about an hour’s drive from Yambio Teachers Training College. Br Bill (the Australian brother in charge of teacher training) asked if I would come to be a support to Sr Rosa as the two others in the community are away on holiday. He explained that the situation here is rather unstable and so Solidarity were anxious to have someone else here at this time.
Since I’ve arrived, there has been a huge influx of IDPs, all clustering around the church for safety and also because they have been ordered off their land under threat of being looted, tortured or even killed. Since I arrived on Friday, at least 300 more families have arrived,so that now there must be up to 4000 + families living in desperate conditions of poor shelter, little food, limited water supply, lack of sanitary facilities, scarcely any health care and much sickness. They won’t be allowed back to their homes (many of which have been looted and then burned) until the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army are convinced that the area had been cleared of rebels – at least that’s the reason given for the awful suffering inflicted on the people.
So would you please ask all our sisters, associates and friends to pray for a resolution and that the camp will be safe. Please God the people will soon again feel safe enough to return to their homes and start all over again.
