UGANDA: Caritas Uganda Responds to the Plight of South Sudanese Refugees
South Sudanese Refugees Staying at Bidibidi Camp, Uganda
Source: Caritas Uganda
Caritas Uganda has responded to the socio-economic needs of some of the 42,000 refugees currently residing at Bidi Bidi Refugee camp by empowering them to be self-reliant and have dignified lives in the camp.
Following the collapse of the peace process on 9th July, 2016 when government and opposition forces clashed in the capital Juba. The opposition forces fled towards the Congolese border and as the government pursued them, the ever peaceful Yei River State got drawn into the war. In less than 2 months 240,000 more South Sudanese fled their country, prompting the Ugandan government to open Bidi Bidi refugee settlement.
Two months ago Bidi Bidi was a forest, now it is home to 169,000 people and one of the largest refugee camps in the world. As the 2016 rainy season drew to an end, Caritas Uganda’s emergency team launched a campaign for assistance and within weeks several International Caritas organizations and the Swiss Government mobilized enough funds to support 20,000 refugees. In the meantime, the Ugandan Government had requested Caritas to cater for the needs of all 42,000 refugees of Bidi Bidi’s “Zone 2”, so Caritas Uganda’s plea for assistance will continue until the needs of all those people have been met.
On the 22nd of October the Caritas refugee response was officially launched with a large seeds and tools distribution. Within days, volunteers helped to distribute 10,000 hand tools and 10 metric tons of vegetable seeds in order to allow the refugees to grow pulses and vegetables so they can improve their diet. On the 26th of October, the distribution was attended by the Papal Nuncio to Uganda, Archbishop Michael Blume, and the Bishop of Arua Diocese, Rt. Rev Sabino Odoki, in order to give the refugees a message of hope.
This distribution was the first activity in a 12-month program that will bring back dignity and self-reliance for the refugees by providing them with sanitary pads, mosquito nets, crop seeds and everyday agricultural support. In order to allow the refugees to make maximum use of their time in exile, the program will also take 420 refugee youths for vocational and agro-economic trainings in regional technical institutes. As their exile is expected to be temporarily, Caritas is not only looking at their current situation in Uganda, but we also want to make sure that they are fully ready for resettlement once the situation in their home country stabilizes.
The lands on which the refugees have settled, belongs to the Ugandan host communities and in order to thank them for their generosity, Caritas Uganda will also support 4,000 vulnerable Ugandans who are living around the camps. They will get similar support as the refugees and will embark on a massive tree planting campaign in order to compensate for the deforestation the camp has caused.
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