Help the IDPs in Gumbo
An estimated 2,000 internally displaced people who have been displaced by the cattle keepers from the area of Kit, Aru, Lobonok, and Kumbi villages have complained about a lack of basic services such as food shelters. The majority of the IDPs have been living under mango trees along Don Bosco Road in Gumbo.
The chairman of Lobonok Payam, Loro Everestor, said he was so disappointed, as the head of the IDPs sheltering in Gumbo.
“These individuals were attacked last month. Some of them perished, but we have never received any government support since we arrived, prompting some of us to wonder if the country even has a government, “Loro said.
“They don’t have any food, mats, or blankets. I am not sure why no one seems not to be concerned about their dilemma. Nevertheless, we act as if the country has no government. IDPs are confused as to why they have been forced to flee their homes. Others think it is because their representatives are not in power, “he said.
They said they have only been receiving services from a few individuals as their contributions, as well as the church institutions.
It is also understood that the IDPs are being helped by their own members serving either in the public or private sectors. It is their members’ community serving in the government, or NGOs who go round to lobby for donations, and yet this work should have been left to the ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management.
The ministry should have visited the place and found out the statistics of those who take refuge in Gumbo, This is the responsibility of the ministry together with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission.
These people sheltering in Gumbo fled all the way from Kit, Aru, Kumbi village and Lobonok. They do not have anything to support them. Though some of them have been integrated into the communities by their relatives in Gumbo, the majority of them are still living in open spaces under trees in Gumbo.
This is a great challenge to us as citizens and the authorities if we cannot help our people during times of disaster. In most cases, we look up to people who are very far from us to come to our rescue when we are not even capable.
This is happening simply because we do not have solidarity as a team. You can just recall how in December 2013, when the war in the country led to bloodshed, and, as a consequence, the hospitals in Juba were filled up. It was the government of Kenya that donated blood to those who badly needed it, as if the country did not have people with blood.
The government needs to visit those IDPs sheltering under trees in Gumbo and listen to their needs.
