A Safe Haven

Samaritan's Purse is saving lives by providing food, water, and shelter to refugees in South Sudan. 

“There were soldiers between me and my family,” Matthias said. “They were shooting, and the town was on fire. I tried to contact my wife, but I didn’t reach her. To this day, I still haven’t found them.”

Matthias stared into the distance as he described the horrific scene of soldiers rolling tanks into his town in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. Many weeks had passed since he and hundreds of others ran across the mountains to escape the violence, but the cracking in his voice suggested that the pain is still very fresh.

“Many innocent people were killed on that day,” he said. 

For the next two weeks, Matthias and his neighbors ran across the mountains, unsure of where to go to find safety. They had no time to return to their homes to gather any food or belongings. There was no clean water to be found. They scraped by on what they were able to find in the bush.

“Airplanes were bombing the roads,” he said. “Sixty people were killed in front of us.”

Those who survived long enough to make it across the border into South Sudan were greeted by a Samaritan’s Purse team ready to help them with their most basic needs.

“Those people were our hope that we would survive,” Matthias said. 

When Samaritan’s Purse staff in South Sudan heard reports of thousands of refugees from the Nuba Mountains stranded without food, water, or shelter, they immediately responded.

“What we found was even worse than we expected,” team leader David Phillips said. “These poor people were on the edge of death.”

The team learned that dozens of children had died during the arduous journey across the mountains, and dozens more were missing. Hundreds of little ones arrived at the Samaritan’s Purse project site without mothers or fathers. Most did not know if their parents were still alive.

We began distributing plastic for shelters and clean water. Our DC-3 cargo plane dropped tons of food. We began a therapeutic feeding program for children under five suffering from acute malnutrition. 

In the past month, the number of refugees has swollen from 2,700 to over 10,000. Samaritan’s Purse has cleared an airstrip near the area to provide more emergency relief quickly in order to save lives and reduce suffering.

We are now providing temporary shelter, food, and other desperately needed items for 10,450 vulnerable people. We also set up a medical clinic that has seen nearly 3,000 patients. All the aid is showing that God loves the refugees, and is a strong tower for those who turn to Him.

“When I think of the day the fighting came to my town, all I remember is loud noise, screams,” Matthias said. “I am truthful in saying that we were all facing death. But it was not our day.

“Please tell everyone to pray for us,” he added. “We need the world to remember us. The only thing we want is to survive and to live in peace.”