Fwd: [sudans-john-ashworth] Displaced near Yambio live on mangoes, sweet potatoes
2 views
Skip to first unread message
Elisabeth Janaina
Jun 19, 2017, 9:38:37 AM6/19/17
to southsudankob
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "John Ashworth" <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: 19 Jun 2017 15:15
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Displaced near Yambio live on mangoes, sweet potatoes
To: "Group" <sudans-joh...@googlegroups.com>
Cc:
Displaced near South Sudanese border live on mangoes, sweet potatoes
By Paul Jeffrey • Catholic News Service • Posted June 13, 2017
RIIMENZE, South Sudan (CNS) — Violence near South Sudan’s border with
Congo has driven 6,000 people from the countryside to shelter in the
shadows of the village church, where some have been surviving on
mangoes.
Before the mangoes, there were the sweet potatoes of Sister Rosa Le Thi Bong.
A member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, Sister Rosa is a
member of Solidarity with South Sudan, an international Catholic
network that supports the training of teachers, health workers and
pastoral agents in the African country. Solidarity’s presence in
Riimenze was originally conceived as a project to assist the parish
with pastoral care while growing food to feed students and staff at a
teacher training college the group runs in Yambio, an hour away.
Yet with support from Caritas Austria, Solidarity’s farm became a
major teaching center on its own, modeling agricultural techniques for
farmers seeking more sustainable ways of producing food.
Last year’s growing season was unusually productive, in part because
of a new variety of sweet potato that Sister Rosa brought to Riimenze
from her home in Vietnam. It flourished on the farm, and people loved
its flavor.
“We had such a bumper crop on the farm last year that we were worried
some of it would go to waste,” said Matthias Fettback, director of the
Caritas agricultural program in the diocese. “And then the conflict
broke out.
“It takes time for international aid agencies to respond to these
emergencies. They have to come and make their assessments and studies,
and because the situation is so politically charged they are reluctant
to rush in, worried they’d be charged by the government with aiding
the rebels,” he said. “So the corn and beans and pumpkin and Sister
Rosa’s sweet potatoes saved the day for the displaced in those first
difficult weeks.”
The Riimenze area had been relatively peaceful compared to the rest of
South Sudan. Then last year an armed opposition group took up
residence just across the border, in Congo. As its members passed
through the jungle on their way to and from raids on government
outposts elsewhere, they forced families to provide food. In response,
South Sudanese soldiers showed up to accuse civilians of
collaboration. When the governor criticized the army’s actions, he was
fired by officials in Juba, the nation’s capital.
Late in 2016, things got even worse. Soldiers looted houses and
tortured and killed two church workers, reportedly burning them alive
inside their homes. On New Year’s Eve, a scorched-earth campaign drove
thousands into Riimenze.
Several times recently, church workers said, rebels and government
soldiers came into the camp looking for particular people, often
beating them and looting their makeshift shelters. In at least one
case, they took people away.
The parish priest said the displaced often ask him when they can go home.
“I don’t have an answer. The security situation has not improved. The
rebels are still in the bush, and the government soldiers are still
pursuing people and killing innocent people,” Father Victor Babie told
Catholic News Service.
He said hunger motivates some to risk going out to plant their abandoned farms.
“In the morning you see some people go out to farm, and they take that
risk because they don’t want to die of hunger. People think that if
they can plant something, at least they might have a little to eat. In
recent weeks many have survived only on mangoes. But the mango season
is soon coming to an end,” he said.
Besides food, the displaced families needed tarps and other supplies
which Solidarity, with funding from Catholic Relief Services and the
Italian bishops’ conference, provided. Solidarity also drilled two
additional wells in the village and continued running a clinic and
kindergarten.
The longer the displacement goes on, food insecurity will only grow
worse, said Fettback. Caritas Austria has been working for several
years with farmers in the region, developing sustainable methods of
using the land, but the massive displacement around Riimenze has
changed things.
“We’re back to square one with agricultural development. When their
homes were burned and looted, the farmers lost both their tools and
the seeds they had saved. So we’re going to give people seeds and
tools again and hope they can find a plot of land that they can farm
without getting killed.” he said.
“The farmers are going back to their traditional method of coping with
crisis, where survival often depends on being able to hide in remote
areas and become hunter-gatherers. Without stability, agricultural
development initiatives have no chance.”
That’s bad news for the country as a whole, Fettback said, because the
fertile Equatoria region surrounding Riimenze had provided food to the
rest of the country.
Although Fettback was twice held against his will by rebels late last
year, he said the church-sponsored farm has been exempt from attacks.
“Neither the rebels nor the government soldiers have touched, much
less looted the farm. It’s a sign of the respect that both sides have
for our work with the people,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s as far
as it goes. We’ve been unable to protect the civilians from the people
with guns.”
http://catholicphilly.com/2017/06/news/world-news/displaced-near-south-sudanese-border-live-on-mangoes-sweet-potatoes/
END
______________________
John Ashworth
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+44 787 976 8030 (UK mobile)
+88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone)
Skype: jashworth1
PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
reflect the views of any organisation
--
--
The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group.
To post to this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth-unsub...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudans-john-ashworth" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sudans-john-ashworth+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sudans-john-ashworth.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
From: "John Ashworth" <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: 19 Jun 2017 15:15
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Displaced near Yambio live on mangoes, sweet potatoes
To: "Group" <sudans-joh...@googlegroups.com>
Cc:
Displaced near South Sudanese border live on mangoes, sweet potatoes
By Paul Jeffrey • Catholic News Service • Posted June 13, 2017
RIIMENZE, South Sudan (CNS) — Violence near South Sudan’s border with
Congo has driven 6,000 people from the countryside to shelter in the
shadows of the village church, where some have been surviving on
mangoes.
Before the mangoes, there were the sweet potatoes of Sister Rosa Le Thi Bong.
A member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, Sister Rosa is a
member of Solidarity with South Sudan, an international Catholic
network that supports the training of teachers, health workers and
pastoral agents in the African country. Solidarity’s presence in
Riimenze was originally conceived as a project to assist the parish
with pastoral care while growing food to feed students and staff at a
teacher training college the group runs in Yambio, an hour away.
Yet with support from Caritas Austria, Solidarity’s farm became a
major teaching center on its own, modeling agricultural techniques for
farmers seeking more sustainable ways of producing food.
Last year’s growing season was unusually productive, in part because
of a new variety of sweet potato that Sister Rosa brought to Riimenze
from her home in Vietnam. It flourished on the farm, and people loved
its flavor.
“We had such a bumper crop on the farm last year that we were worried
some of it would go to waste,” said Matthias Fettback, director of the
Caritas agricultural program in the diocese. “And then the conflict
broke out.
“It takes time for international aid agencies to respond to these
emergencies. They have to come and make their assessments and studies,
and because the situation is so politically charged they are reluctant
to rush in, worried they’d be charged by the government with aiding
the rebels,” he said. “So the corn and beans and pumpkin and Sister
Rosa’s sweet potatoes saved the day for the displaced in those first
difficult weeks.”
The Riimenze area had been relatively peaceful compared to the rest of
South Sudan. Then last year an armed opposition group took up
residence just across the border, in Congo. As its members passed
through the jungle on their way to and from raids on government
outposts elsewhere, they forced families to provide food. In response,
South Sudanese soldiers showed up to accuse civilians of
collaboration. When the governor criticized the army’s actions, he was
fired by officials in Juba, the nation’s capital.
Late in 2016, things got even worse. Soldiers looted houses and
tortured and killed two church workers, reportedly burning them alive
inside their homes. On New Year’s Eve, a scorched-earth campaign drove
thousands into Riimenze.
Several times recently, church workers said, rebels and government
soldiers came into the camp looking for particular people, often
beating them and looting their makeshift shelters. In at least one
case, they took people away.
The parish priest said the displaced often ask him when they can go home.
“I don’t have an answer. The security situation has not improved. The
rebels are still in the bush, and the government soldiers are still
pursuing people and killing innocent people,” Father Victor Babie told
Catholic News Service.
He said hunger motivates some to risk going out to plant their abandoned farms.
“In the morning you see some people go out to farm, and they take that
risk because they don’t want to die of hunger. People think that if
they can plant something, at least they might have a little to eat. In
recent weeks many have survived only on mangoes. But the mango season
is soon coming to an end,” he said.
Besides food, the displaced families needed tarps and other supplies
which Solidarity, with funding from Catholic Relief Services and the
Italian bishops’ conference, provided. Solidarity also drilled two
additional wells in the village and continued running a clinic and
kindergarten.
The longer the displacement goes on, food insecurity will only grow
worse, said Fettback. Caritas Austria has been working for several
years with farmers in the region, developing sustainable methods of
using the land, but the massive displacement around Riimenze has
changed things.
“We’re back to square one with agricultural development. When their
homes were burned and looted, the farmers lost both their tools and
the seeds they had saved. So we’re going to give people seeds and
tools again and hope they can find a plot of land that they can farm
without getting killed.” he said.
“The farmers are going back to their traditional method of coping with
crisis, where survival often depends on being able to hide in remote
areas and become hunter-gatherers. Without stability, agricultural
development initiatives have no chance.”
That’s bad news for the country as a whole, Fettback said, because the
fertile Equatoria region surrounding Riimenze had provided food to the
rest of the country.
Although Fettback was twice held against his will by rebels late last
year, he said the church-sponsored farm has been exempt from attacks.
“Neither the rebels nor the government soldiers have touched, much
less looted the farm. It’s a sign of the respect that both sides have
for our work with the people,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s as far
as it goes. We’ve been unable to protect the civilians from the people
with guns.”
http://catholicphilly.com/2017/06/news/world-news/displaced-near-south-sudanese-border-live-on-mangoes-sweet-potatoes/
END
______________________
John Ashworth
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+44 787 976 8030 (UK mobile)
+88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone)
Skype: jashworth1
PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
reflect the views of any organisation
--
--
The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group.
To post to this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth-unsub...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudans-john-ashworth" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sudans-john-ashworth+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sudans-john-ashworth.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages