Shelter

Our repatriation program is a great help to the community of Magwi County who may not have the resources to build tukul or houses for themselves. On behalf of the families and the IDPs we want to thank Terry Douglas and the Staff of Provision Foundation for granting ONMI the fund to begin the repatriation program.

The first recipient of the repatriation program involved 20 families’ heads comprising 97 family members. More than 100 applications are expected before the end of the year. We are expecting the repatriation truck to arrive along with the water drilling rig impact to impact the community.

One year prior to the signing of the Peace Agreement, we moved into South Sudan after 10 years serving in the refugee and IDP camps. We focused on providing hope in the Lord that the people would be able to return to their homeland to live and worship in peace. We delivered a mobile medical unit and the first Gospel Radio Station in the Sudan, built a health clinic and a mission house, planted crops, and established a church. The projects described in this proposal will enable us to take another major step in providing hope for our future.

I was blessed to find this program flourishing, with each family involved working on putting the finishing touches on their homesteads. The program’s director, Taban James, has worked tirelessly with his small team over the last 3 months to produce over 25,000 bricks for the project! The grasses needed for creating sturdy roofing materials had matured since my last visit and all of the homes now have beautiful thatched roofs, just in time for the coming rainy season. We are looking forward to assisting a new group of families within the coming weeks.

Our goal for the first quarter 2007 is to repatriate 20 more families. Each family will be provided with safe transportation via security convoy. Each family will receive $1000 USD, in the form of building materials to assist them in reestablishing themselves. Each family head applying for support will be interviewed by our staff. The basic criteria for participation in this program are:

1. They have not been involved in illegal activity in the camp.
2. They must be faithful and monogamous in their marriage.
3. They must not drink alcohol.
4. They have been attending Christian fellowship within the camp community.
5. They should not have a reputation for laziness.
6. They must have a voluntary desire to back to Magwi County.
7. Each family head will be expected to agree to our Memorandum of Understanding and Waiver of Responsibility.

We have a good working relationship with a foundation in the USA which has been instrumental in helping us with the fund to implement our repatriation program. On the ground, we have good relationship with the Catholic Relief Services and Norwegian Church Aid. As you may be aware, these NGO’s are also involved in relocating displaced people. We continue to collaborate in our respective efforts. An example of this is the “Food for Work” Program, in which CRS provided food to returning refugees supported by Operation Nehemiah. The NCA has provided teacher education for refugees that we have assisted in returning to Sudan. The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission also co-labors with us in the distribution of relief supplies, such as clothing and food that we ship over from the U.S. SRRC and local church in the South Sudan will be involved in assisting us in the distribution of clothing to returnees.