World Vision Uganda is distributing food to 138,530 S. Sudan refugees
World Vision Uganda distributing food to 138,530 S. Sudan refugees
Moses Mukitale, Emergency communications officer WVU
World Food Program sub grants USD$20M worth of food items to World Vision Uganda to distribute to the present-day caseload of South Sudan refugees in the districts of Adjumani, Koboko and Arua.
The partnership between the two has been premised on the ground that World food program continues to provide food loads for the refugees, as World Vision provides a warehouse for it in Adjumani plus distributing it to the refugees.
The food distribution exercise sub granted to World Vision is already underway in 38 final distribution points reaching out to a total of 138,530 beneficiaries as of December 2014.
According to the World Vision Uganda food resource manager Andrew Iraguha, the food distribution exercise will last for 15 months:
“Previously we have been doing child protection, running four child friendly spaces, providing early child hood development education, operating two breast feeding corners, and providing nutritional supplements for breast feeding mothers. But all this has been only in Adjumani. Now our mandate has been expanded to three districts and accordingly we have opened up permanent offices in each one of them’’ Says Andrew
Currently, Adjumani district has 14 final distribution points, Arua district also has 14 and Koboko district has 8. All these are apparently receiving food distributed by World Vision including all the reception centres in the three districts.
“As a refugee enters Uganda, we provide them with high-energy biscuits which take them up to the reception centres. At the reception centres the refugees are getting hot meals currently being provided by our local partners. So we are also providing the food that is prepared in form of hot meals’’ Andrew notes
The foods being distributed include cereals like rice and Sorghum, pulses such as beans, soya beans, vegetable cooking oil and corn soya blend. Each homestead gets food as per the number of its members.
‘’The rations we are providing are supposed to last the family a whole month. We are giving to every one in a family 12kgs of cereals, 2.4kgs of pulses, 0.9kgs of cooking oil plus 1.5kgs of corn soya blend. The distribution takes 6 to 7 hours at every distribution point and this is happening in each of the 36 final distribution points.” Narrates Andrew
Below is the current population we are serving in the West Nile Food Assistance program
Lobule 3,941 Beneficiaries with 914 house hold
Adjumani 71,643 Beneficiaries with 14,819 households
Rhino Camp 15,167 beneficiaries with 3,394 households
Andrew tells me the biggest challenges they are so far facing are two: the poor road network being plied by the distribution trucks plus the case of refugees having their names missing on the beneficiary register:
“Some of the beneficiaries move from one settlement to another in order to re-unite with their families and since this information is not officially provided to the UNHCR, the distribution lists we follow do not reflect their names. This makes the distribution drag for hours since we have to engage refugee leaders to help us clarify the true identities of the missing names”
In an interview with the office of the prime minister refugee desk officer Titus Jogo, who also acts as the government coordinator for the South Sudan Refugee response in Adjumani, government committed its self to resolve the issue of the missing names by tasking camp commandants to provide daily updates of new people at their points.
Titus also noted that at first, he did not see the relevance of World Vision kick starting its response with Child friendly spaces:
“All I wanted to see at that time was food, water and sanitation. And so when World Vision asked for land to open up Child friendly spaces, I thought twice about it but did not want to oppose the idea so I gave in. I only realised the importance of Child friendly spaces a week later when my own 9 year old daughter run away from home and hid at a near by kindergarten school. All of us at home where at that moment so busy and she had no one to play with or talk to. This is why she sought for a place where she she belonged. This was my big eye opener to how vital a child friendly space can be in a refugee setting. I have been in touch with my camp commandants since February 2013 and they tell me we have not recorded any cases of children being molested, tortured or abused in the camps. Am so grateful to World Vision for this. You have given new life to the formerly affected children’’
Meanwhile, World Vision has also been sub granted by UNICEF to implement a peace and protection project, focusing on empowering refugee children to be agents of change in the camps. This project will officially be rolled out in January 2015.