The Nakivale Refugee Settlement was set up as a joint venture between the Ugandan government and the United Nations. The U.N. used to have a visible presence on the Settlement, but now there is almost no presence, with the exception of the initial intake center. The intake center is an area where all persons first coming into the settlement have to stay and be processed. They stay in tent camps for about three months. During which time they receive a food allotment based on the number of adults and children in their group.
After their processing They are given a small plot of land that they will need to cultivate (hoe by hand) in order to grow their own food and build a shelter. These shelters are merely a tarp or plastic held up with a few sticks and poles. They are now basically on their own with very little help from the government or the UN.
Everyone on the Settlement used to receive an allotment of food for the number of people in their household. That program has ended and now there are many people going hungry everyday. These poor people have come great distances to reach these refugee settlement areas, the transportation is provided by the UN. They have not wanted to leave their homes and families but due to wars, genocides, and political unrest they have had to leave or face starvation or death. Now they are in a strange place with only a few items that they could bring with them and are facing much the same conditions as they left.
We were blessed to be able to do some small thing for a few of these ladies and children that are trying to eek out a living. We gave them a simple solar light. You would have thought we had given them a million dollars.
If people in the United States were caught treating their animals this way tehy woudl be in prison for animal cruelty. They have no medicine, no food, and no money. It is simply inhumane to treat human beings like this. This country is in a huge uproar over how our government is treating illegal aliens, and the condition of the accommodations they have to endue. I can tell you first hand, if the people on the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, had what these illegal aliens have, they would feel blessed beyond their wildest dreams. I do not know why people worldwide are not up in arms over this. Why are these abuses not on the evening news?
What is wrong with us? This country, the supposedly enlightened and civilized people, are upset over not letting men compete in women’s sports events or not calling someone by some ridiculous ungodly pronoun, while thousands of people in these camps are starving and dying of preventable diseases. We are so rich and privileged, but think only of ourselves. We have to have the next new iPhone or newest car model, or just more stuff. We have so many toys and things that we have no place to store them, so storage units are one of the fastest growing businesses. We throw away more than most people in a third-world country will ever have. And I am not pointing a finger at you without having three fingers pointing back at myself. I probably spent more on coffee in a month than what it takes to feed a whole family in a Refugee Settlement.
Well, I have ranted long enough. I don’t have the answers, but I hope you will think about what you might be able to do to help someone else today. As Pastor Bernard says when he gets on a passionate side track, “I’m over it.” But I hope and pray that I am never over it. There is simply too much injustice in our world today.
Emmaus Gospel Outreach 