South Sudanese Refugee Project Gulu, Kampala & Arua, Uganda

South Sudanese Refugee Project Gulu, Kampala & Arua, Uganda University of Maine Tessa Lilley, Ana Eliza Souza Cunha, Camilla Horton, Emma Paradie, Emma Freeman, Ellie Damuck and Taylor Delp; United States of America. University of Maine partnersforworldhealth.org Section I. The goals of this project were to provide clinical education and medical resources to the South Sudanese currently seeking refuge in Uganda. These goals were executed by providing primary care and prenatal education to pregnant women, and supplying the refugee camp health clinics with medical supplies. The South Sudanese Refugee Project was funded solely by the Davis Foundation’s Project for Peace program. Partners for World Health, University of Maine Chapter is a group of students from the University of Maine partnering with the non-profit organization Partners for World Health in Portland, Maine. Last year, Partners for World Health became aware of the scarcity of medical aide in the Imvepi Refugee Camp located in Northern Uganda. There is a massive influx of refugees fleeing their homeland due to civil conflict, and now the resources of the Imvepi Refugee Camp are being stretched to the limits. After hearing how desperate the settlement was in need of medical supplies, Partners for World Health pledged to provide supplies and educational assistance. The influx of refugees come from political discrepancies which sparked the ongoing violent civil war in South Sudan. There are now approximately 2.4 million refugees that have fled and are now seeking asylum in Uganda. Uganda’s generous refugee policies has allowed over 800,000 South Sudanese; and therefore, the sheer number of people needing medical attention is overwhelming the resources. When in need of medical attention, refugees often must walk great distances to reach the settlement’s healthcare centers; which are limited by their capacity to test, diagnose, and treat individuals. Due to these limitations within the settlement, Partners for World Health stepped up to help. The Imvepi Refugee Camp is crowded–the refugees are living side by side with Ugandans native to the land. The South Sudanese are living in shelters made of tarps and sticks (donated by United Nations Refugee Organization), which line the roads of the settlement. They retrieve water from water tanks that are stocked by eighteen-wheeler rigs. Schools, as well as latrines, are few and far between. Regardless of the dire circumstances, the South Sudanese have been welcomed by the Ugandans. The gesture, which includes access to public services and a plot of land for living, is an exceptional demonstration of benevolence. There was only one instance when we were concerned for the efficacy of the project, and that was when the team gave the initial health education presentation. The team had been advised that many of the women in the settlement were pregnant, and we chose to provide Project 10,000 education to them. The presentation’s purpose was to educate the women on birth complications, nutrition and answer any questions they may have. Following this presentation, the team had intentions to handout “Momma Kits” equipped with antiseptic solution, sterile gloves for the doctor, sterile scissors to cut the umbilical cord, a sterile clip to tie the umbilical cord, and clean linen to keep the newborn warm. However, over three hundred refugees attended the clinic in hopes of receiving a momma kit, but there were only ninety- four kits remaining. The team had to be tactful about this circumstance, because riots and outbursts can be common in this environment. In order to keep the women content and keep the team safe, Partners for World Health decided to give the clinic’s midwives the birthing kits to hold onto and disperse at their discretion when women go into labor. Although this deviated from our initial intentions, we were still able to provide several large mass educational presentations on prenatal health, check blood pressures, and interview many of the pregnant women who attended. These interviews gave us insight into the community’s knowledge about healthcare. One of the challenges of this project was the language barrier. Uganda is a multilingual country, but English and Swahili are the most common. In the refugee camp, though, there were many more dialects–Acholi, variations of Arabic, and Keliko, to name a few. Only the South Sudanese who attended school while in Sudan spoke English. The team overcame this challenge with with well versed interpreters who were located at the settlement. Regardless of the barrier, and at times without the interpreters, it was remarkable how much was conveyed through actions and emotions alone. Perhaps the most important things were communicated without words. At the University of Maine we have a plaza dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr, with a wall that quotes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Justice and peace go hand in hand, as many of the refugees who were displaced by the injustices of political powers within South Sudan were without more than just a home, but without peace. It is therefore an obligation of mankind to look after one another. Foreign aid groups, such as Partners for World Health, are restoring peace by aiding the refugees with resources and education to re-establish a safer life than their current war-torn homes. To be there, amongst all of those displaced people, stretching resources to the max was a beautiful thing to behold. Even though living conditions were not ideal to the average American, the coexistence, the care, and the compassion for all those trying to help others who have been forced out of their homes, is an ideal delineation of ‘peace.’ The South Sudanese Refugee Project has and will continue to contribute to world peace by ensuring mothers become aware of the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth. These are risks that are not learned in school, because many dropout out at a young age in order to provide for their families. The long-term effect is education, such as this, never fades. It will spread by word of mouth, and the mortality rates of pregnant women and infants will decline in time. During our experience, we witnessed the first hand the effect of our project. While giving one of the educational lectures, a mother- to-be spoke up to complain that Partners for World Health was not providing water or food‒a favor we could not satisfy due to the volume of women and risking a resource riot‒for the congregated women. before one of the team members could explain this, another women in the audience spoke out and said, “but education is powerful.” These words affected our team to the core. It meant our work was not in vain. It showed progress, even if it was just one step at a time. All it takes is one individual to understand the value of education to instill it into the next. Education, a constituent of peace, saves lives, empowers individuals, spreads camaraderie, and allows a community to grow and stand on its own. The education we provided is making a difference in a place where a meal holds more value than a textbook. It is an empowering feeling, one which we will each keep with us as we continue with our academic endeavors and throughout our professional careers. “The South Sudanese Refugee Project was valuable to me because it solidified my desire to study and aid in global health policy; and moreover taught me it’s not about what a community doesn’t have. It’s about what they strive to achieve.” -Ana Eliza Souza Cunha “The South Sudanese Refugee Project taught me it is not only important to provide healthcare, education and other forms of aid to developing nations, but equally important is to have the capacity to learn from the solidarity the Ugandans show the refugees.” - Tessa Lilley Section II. .

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