The Gibsons online blog

Over 4000 refugees now occupy the camps at Mentao, 10km south of the Sahelian town of Djibo. Their stories carry a certain level of uniformity in that they are being forced to flee from their homeland, it would seem, because of their ethnicity, Touareg. Rejected and chased out by their fellow countrymen and now distrusted by the local population of their new, though temporary, residence they find themselves as the unwanted people.

Each day they arrive and each day the local authorities come down and take the recensement in order to keep tabs on the movement of these alien guests. Various organisations are in constant debate as to what to do, ever aware of the restrictions of already stretched budgets as famine continues to tighten its grip on the whole of the region this year. A few tents have been distributed as well as a number of water bladders to provide clean drinking water plus a small amount of foodstuffs, but the needs continue to out stretch the means.

It's an overwhelming situation for all involved: For the authorities, as it looks at an already desperate situation, for those who have been given the task of coordinating relief with little resources to work with, and for those who nobody seems to want, a sense of helplessness, at the mercy of everybody and everything.

One of the advantages of being a part of an organisation such as ours is that we are able to act quicker than some of the larger ones as we look to personal contacts not only for funds but also practical support. The week starting the 27^th February we, as a mission, were able to purchase and distribute several tons of food stuffs at the two camps of Mentao and we are now looking to do well repairs in the area in order that the lack of clean drinking water doesn't add to the problems. We were very grateful to those who contributed financially to the aid we distributed and for the team of Touareg Christians who came over from neighbouring Niger to help with both logistics and outreach.

It's not as if we were able to solve all their problems. Practically, this is way beyond us. But we were able to demonstrate the love of Christ in a very tangible way. It would be nice to "fix" their suffering completely, but it is better to do a little than nothing at all. One of the things my friend at the camp said to me when the truck rolled up with the foodstuffs was, "look at people's faces, they are brighter" he said. "They now know that not everybody has abandoned them. Thank you."