cason & colleen: Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp

The past month or so, I (Cason) have had the privilege of helping our church, Ngata AGC, with their ministry at a local Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp. The camp, which is about 10km from the church, was initially set up after the violence following the December 2007 elections – so most of the people have been living there for almost 3 years. According to one mze (older man) at the camp, there are 700 family units and over 2600 people living in the tent village. Some of them have outside jobs, but most just get by on what they can. There is no clean water source at the camp, and the government stopped bringing supplies, so the primary ministry of the church is bringing truck-fulls of clean water.

The picture on the left is of Pastor Habib, from Ngata AGC with some of his friends from the IDP camp. Habib and the church found out about the camp through another one of its ministries to women in a town called Salgaa. Since it is along the main highway, Salgaa is a major truck stop, and prostitution is rampant. Many women turn to it because there is no other work available.

The church holds weekly Bible studies for the women in Salgaa, as well as clinics that teaches life skills and provides training in alternative occupations. One of the women, with whom the church came into contact from that ministry, is named Truforcer (that’s how it is pronounced… I have no idea how it is spelled). She lives in a tent at the IDP camp with her two children, but comes to Salgaa to look for work and also to attend the Bible study. Truforcer is a leader at the IDP camp and teaches Sunday school to the many kids who live there. Below is a picture of her with her children in front of their tent/home.

The camp is a village of white-ish tents, about 2km off the main highway behind some maize fields. The people who live there say that the government has ignored their camp in favor of helping others since theirs isn’t visible from the road… got to keep things looking nice for the tour groups who drive by, I guess.

The people are there for a variety of reasons, but most had to leave their homes after the tribal-driven violence following the 2007 elections re-emphasized the tribal lines in many communities. They are waiting on the government to give them land since they left their untenable homes after the post-election clashes, but they have no idea if or when that might happen.

The tens are so small and most don’t have any bottom – entire families live in what we would call a “pup” tent, and they must get soaked when it rains. The tent in the photo above is probably for a family of 3-5. The kitchens are little fire pits dug into the earth in front of the tents and there are no places for bathing.

The camp has a little football (soccer) pitch right next to it with homemade goals. I was able to take them some balls that were given to me by South Central Soccer Academy from Greenwood, Indiana (the club that I used to play at many years ago). There are kids everywhere, and i must have looked like the pied piper walking to the football pitch, because I more than 50 kids following me and yelling out things about the mzungu (white man) and the soccer ball. I kicked the ball around with them for a while, which was so much fun. It is amazing what a $10 soccer can do to raise spirits and put smiles on faces. My team, Ngata United FC, is hopefully going to partner with the older players from the IDP camp to give our old uniforms and invite them to the next tournament that we host.

Our church is struggling to know how to help the people of the camp without creating an unsustainable expectation. It is difficult to know how or how much to help sometimes, but we so know that Jesus called us to help those in need. Please pray for wisdom for the church and the mission, that we would know how to provide appropriate assistance. The most pressing and basic need is for water – the people of the community line up for hours with whatever containers they can find to fill up at the truck.

As I walked around talking to people the last time I was there, I thought of all the times that Jesus taught his disciples to meet physical needs as well as spiritual. “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42)

Please pray for this amazing ministry of Ngata AGC, as well as for the people of the IDP camp - especially that the church and mission would get wisdom as to what the best ways are to provide assistance, and also spiritual discipleship. Thanks!

Cason

Click HERE for a link to an album with more pictures from the IDP camp. Below are a few more of our favorite photos.

The girl with awesome hair… really it was half done corn rows, but I thought it was sweet looking: