Refugees

The other day Alanna and I had the opportunity to visit several different nearby refugee camps. All of these camps are made up of people who are referred to as IDP’s (Internally Displaced People). All of these people have been forced to leave their homes because their homes have been destroyed by bombs or are generally unsafe because of the conflict here. At last count there are 75,000 IDP’s in the district of Batticaloa alone with another 3,000 estimated to arrive today and more families arriving each each.

So Alanna and I had the opportunity to visit 5 of these sites where these people are in temporary shelters. At all of these sites the white people were quite the spectacle. It really did not take long for a whole cluster of about 50 or more kids to mob us. We of course obliged, used a little Tamil, played a little and took a bunch of pictures to show them. It really was quite the scene to watch each other getting absolutely mobbed by these kids.

At a couple of the sites I would leave Alanna alone with the masses in an attempt to actually see the sites and attempt to take it all in. What I saw was tough to understand and even harder to convey to you. The first site we walked into was a cavernous warehouse. Inside the warehouse there were approximately 200 families. As you looked you would see a family with all of their possessions ( a bag , some clothes and a couple of pots, most of this was donated) all sitting on a grass mat. Near each of these grass mats someone in the family would have a little fire going to cook up some rice or food substitute. As a result the whole building was thick with acrid smoke.

Most of the groups I saw gave a huge smile and were happy to see us and were encouraged that we were distracting their kids from their plight for even a few minutes. Many of the little clusters pointed out mending bones, open sores, and tried to communicate.their story. At a bit of a loss I mostly listened, tried to demonstrate empathy, entertain their kids and offered to take their picture. This proved to be a highlight and elicited hundreds of smiles as they all rallied around to their pictures on the camera.

Still others in the warehouse were too overwhelmed to do much more than lay on the floor in a near catatonic state. Their faces expressed a tremendous sense of loss, grief and despair.

The other sites we visited were more established and made of corrugated tin. The situations, although bleak did have a little more organization and moderate amounts of hope.
Samaritan’s Purse has been running one of these camps for some time and our staff is always welcomed with great fanfare. The UN has been impressed with our involvement and has asked SP to increase its involvement. We have already been able to distribute some starter packs for young infants. These include some biscuits, diapers, milk product, baby clothes and other such items. Each pack would keep the infant going for a month and would only cost about $20. SP has already distributed about 1,000 packs but it is estimated that another 10,000 infants have not been helped yet.

In the coming weeks we also hope to distribute several thousand pairs of shoes to IDP kids who don’t have any footwear. We would like to thank all of the staff from Alanna’s former employer The Company of Adventurers who donated the money for this initiative. You really are making a difference and are helping those that are incredibly needy and are oppressed. We will post pictures on the actual distribution day.

We will keep all of you posted on the developments within the country and about your opportunity to be involved in any new initiatives. I know this blog is a little heavy but this is what we are seeing and experiencing these days.