At the Camp (Part 7 of 8)

At the Camp

By John Jefferson

At the Camp, continued…..

An interesting thing about finding the MSF tent in the refugee camp was that Dr. Kelley had to work with them to gain access to the IDP camps where he was doing the clinics. Dr. Marta Cazole, who is running the MSF operation in Melut, became a key contact for me upon my return from Kodok. She "happened" to come by our compound the morning we were leaving, and I showed her my pictures of the people at the camp and the empty tent. I told her about our mission and she conferred with Dr. K. She was glad to know it was still possible to get to the camp, and more than a bit interested in the contacts who helped me to get there, which I freely shared along with a plea for MSF to return to the refugee camp ASAP. 

Access to the Plumpynut was all due to one member of the team, a missionary with the Bible Translators. He had a contact with UNMISS in Doro, so when our AIM flight stopped there for refueling, there were several boxes waiting for us. They had run out in Nairobi, so this improbable way of getting the precious stuff was again another example of how God's plan was way beyond our ability. He was orchestrating this thing, and we were along for the ride. “Sobeit,” I said to myself.

I had a chance to meet with the King of the K-N area of the Nuba mountains. While very approachable, he did not speak English with me, although I got the feeling he could have.  He became the key contact inside the camp, and I caught some good interview footage of him and some of his people in the precious few minutes I there. The people in the camp were at first were getting help from the locals, but then the conflict in RoSS broke out and as IDPs (about 5K or more) flooded into Kodok, that support dried up along with NGOs that fled. Who knows what's happening with WFP. Tarps were the only evidence the UN had been there. Purportedly, the UN tried to get the Kao-Nyaro people to consent to getting barged four hours down the river to Malakal, then driven around the bottom of South Kordofan to Unity State, eventually reaching Yida Camp.  This location would put them well out of striking distance of their homes and families, which they were unwilling to do.  Thus, the UN and WFP aid dried up.  Bottom line, the women said they had been reduced to eating grass and roots for some time, and thus very happy this food arrived.