The Beginnings of a Plan
By: John Jefferson
The Beginnings of a Plan Start to Form in January
As we all watched with a combination of horror, disbelief,
and dismay at the situation transpiring before our eyes concerning our brothers
and sisters in South Sudan, three tense weeks passed before local contacts
could safely communicate and help devise plans to begin the long path to some
level of normalcy. This led to
colleagues and partners of ENG - such as David Hicks of e3 and Mike Congrove of
Empower Sudan, along with their Sudanese counterparts - to devise plans and
itineraries to assess the conditions on the ground and initiate
biblically-based trainings to support outreach to IDPs (Internally Displaced
People) and refugees in both South Sudan and Uganda. The efforts of both gentlemen to get to South
Sudan within weeks of the conflict created a vital link to local knowledge of
the situation, and the beginnings of a plan to bring aid to the northern part
of the country where the violence was intensifying and the needs were even
greater.
The Two Options
Based on initial intelligence from numerous sources,
accessing any location north of Juba, which itself was at first very unstable,
did not look good. As January turned into February, two options to access the
Nuba Mountains refugees concentrated in Kodok emerged. The two options involved reaching the town of
Melut, where it was believed sorghum could be purchased and transported to
Kodok (refugee camp location. Option
1: Flying in on a charter from Nairobi
that was picking up a team from MedicalTeamsWorldWide (MTWW) on the 9th of
March. Option 2: Meeting Pastor Monychol
of Empower Sudan in Juba and flying up on an oil company transport plane. Neither option offered a guaranteed
exit. The goal of delivering urgently
needed aid to refugees could at least be achieved, however, devising an exit
plan then became a focus. Ultimately,
flying in via the charter MTWW (Med Teams) was both the optimal and only real
choice.
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