The Gibsons online blog

Prior to us leaving for Ouaga two weeks earlier Muhammad had mentioned the imminent arrival of Malian refugees and now he appeared to be playing host to quite a number of them judging by the newly erected tents. The following day I took a trip out there to find out what the situation was and listen to some of the stories of these refugees. Over the past several months news has been filtering through of a Tuareg uprising and the fighting that has been going on between the rebels and the military. It's near impossible to get a clear picture by listening to one party and I've heard of atrocities that have been carried out on both sides, but one thing was quite clear. These people had fled their homeland of Timbuktu in fear for their lives.

Over the past four weeks these families had been travelling over 500km on foot with very few possessions. One lady who had arrived on foot was about 9 months pregnant and a number of the children were now malnourished. The UN and the Burkina government are in the process of gathering information in order to decide what they will do. In the mean time our friend Muhammad has been left to play host to around 20 families each consisting of between 5 – 10 children per family. It has been estimated that there are up to 600 refugees in the Djibo are, many of whom are still hiding out in the bush, scared to come into the open lest they get sent back by the authorities.

We are expecting that the UN will eventually bring aid to these folk, but we are wondering how we might assist with their immediate needs. Up to now we have managed to get 12 100kg sacks out to them but this won't last long. Do pray that God would give us wisdom as we seek to alleviate some of their distress and as we feed information to the UN in Ouaga to hopefully speed up the process so that aid would reach these folk sooner than later.

Also see http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/