P.O.C.

P.O.C. stands for Protection of Civilians. Since fighting broke out in this country in 2013, many thousands of people have fled from their homes and are now living in tents, in camps set up for their protection. The camps are called POC camps. People live here to escape the danger that they fear would be waiting for them elsewhere. The camps are guarded to protect the residents from violence because of tensions between people groups.

Living conditions in these camps are rough, to say the least. Last week, the South Sudanese pastor, Bernard, from our Juba church, told us that he had been working with residents of these POC camps. There are are four such camps on the outskirts of Juba. They can appear pretty organised when viewed from the air in a plane: see below. 

The camp is the white area at the bottom of the picture, situated on the outskirts of Juba:

But appearances can be deceptive.

Although these camps have been established to protect people, there are now so many people living in them that resources are severely stretched. Water is scarce.  There is not enough grain for the families to feed themselves. Bernard was sorry to tell us that women are fighting one another just to get water or grain to make food. The mothers are desperate. They fight just for the basics to feed their children. If I were in their place, I think I would be the same. It must be so dreadfully frightening seeing your children go hungry and getting dehydrated;  I can understand them vying with each other to provide for their own.

Bernard went on to tell us that he was emotionally drained after a week of working and meeting with groups of people from these camps- from listening to their harrowing stories of survival to trying to find a way to help them. It was disturbing to hear him relate this suffering, right on our doorstep.

Bernard explained that bigger projects like setting up water pumps were fraught, as they became so political. Arguments and politics often create huge obstacles, preventing such projects from actually being completed. What a sad state of affairs. So we wondered what we could actually do to help....

As we spoke we Bernard after the Sunday service, he mentioned that some of the women community leaders from the POC, with whom he had met, were humiliated by the lack of basic supplies like sanitary towels. He wondered if perhaps some of the ladies could help out with this?

So that is how I found myself traipsing around Juba this afternoon with my lovely MAF friend Sue (a fellow Brit, out here for a year with MAF). We were on a mission to find the best value sanitary towels in town!! We had $100 US to spend, which had been raised over the course of this week. 

We had a very hot hour visiting various pharmacies, but finally trudged back home along the baking, dusty streets with 100 packets of sanitary towels! These will be passed on to ladies at a POC camp. It feels like such a tiny contribution, so insignificant, but I have to believe it is worthwhile if it can make just a small difference to one of those ladies living in such difficult conditions.

Sue and I got some very strange looks as we carried these delicate supplies back home! Some packets were disguised inside a bright yellow carrier bag, but I was carrying some rather obvious boxes under each arm, with bold labels that shouted their contents to all passers-by! A little indiscreet, perhaps, for a product that really ought to be the most discreet of toiletries! But the slight embarrassment I felt is nothing compared to the humiliation of countless women who need these goods, so it was definitely worth it!