World Vision International
World Vision International International
gallery • Thursday, June 15th 2017

Fleeing fighting to find food

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It is food distribution day at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in northern Uganda, currently one of the largest refugee settlements in the world. World Vision, in partnership with the World Food Programme, distributes monthly rations to hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees in Adjumani, Arua, Yumbe, Koboko and Moyo districts in the West Nile region of northern Uganda.

There are more than 900,000 refugees in the West Nile region who have fled conflict and famine in South Sudan. This number is growing by more than 2,000 refugees a day. 86 per cent of the refugees are women and children and hundreds of them are unnaccompanied minors.

Ahead of the Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees, World Vision joins 25 other international and local organisations in a call to action for the international community and donor governments to:

  • Promote and ensure high level participation in the summit
  • Bring humanitarian and development expertise and resources to the summit
  • Commit predictable, multi-year funds at the summit
  • Address the root causes of the crisis


									

						

						

							

																	 Food rations, composed of maize, super cereal plus, legumes, oil and salt are offloaded from the lorry. 															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 World Vision Uganda staff monitor the food assistance distribution process to ensure beneficiaries receive their rations.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Food rations are stacked in neat rows to enhance the efficiency of distribution.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Helen is just one of the many hundreds of unaccompanied and separated children at the refugee settlement. Helen's mother passed away, and her father works as a driver for a local NGO back in Juba, South Sudan.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Staff from World Vision Uganda help Helen go through the food distribution process to ensure she receives her fair share of the monthly rations.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Helen now lives with her fifteen year old sister Christine at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. Like hundreds of thousands of other refugees, they rely completely on the monthly food assistance.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Helen and Christine help measure their ration of maize, before they make the trek back to their living quarters.															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 "The fighting became severe and there was gunshots and killing everywhere. So father sent us away asking us to flee to Uganda. He had to stay back because of work," Helen shared. 															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 Helen and Christine are happy to be free from fear and fighting, as they try to build a life in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. 															


							
						

					

									

						

						

							

																	 All photos © World Vision/Theodore Sam															


							
						

					

							

		
	


	



  


      
				
			
		


		
		
			  

    


	


						
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