Great things, great love: a refugee story

By Cath Taylor
UnitingWorld

Posted Oct 28, 2015 in Leadership

There’s an old saying: “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.”

But sometimes, perhaps we can do both.

Kakuma refugee camp is a sprawling mass of humanity on the border between Kenya and South Sudan. Under canvas and tin supplied by the UNHCR and the Kenyan government, more than 150,000 people make their homes, many separated from brothers, sisters and parents by fighting across the border in South Sudan and Somalia. Into this maelstrom, another little life emerged last month. Her name is Deborah, and she might never have been.

It was an ordinary morning for young South Sudanese midwives completing their prac in the Kakuma Mission hospital. Many in their early 20s, they’ve been relocated, with the help of the Uniting Church in Australia, from the South Sudanese town of Leer due to heavy fighting. Their training facility was torched. Many of the women fled into the surrounding bush as rebels stormed the area. Some still don’t know where their families are – husbands are missing, and children.

The young women carry on with their studies, supported by the Presbyterian Relief and Development Agency of South Sudan, a UnitingWorld partner. They’re determined to finish their midwifery courses, and when stability returns, go back to their country and serve their sisters. In the meantime, they study at Kakuma and serve their fellow refugees.

“A woman from the camp was brought in to us,” recalls Rachel, a trainee midwife supervisor. “She was haemorrhaging and her child [was] experiencing foetal distress. An emergency caesarean was required to save her life and the life of her child. She was South Sudanese and spoke only Dinka, and the doctor requested that our student speak with the distressed woman in Dinka and explain the procedure to her.”

Further complications arose. Permission needed to be granted for an operation that would save the mother’s life, but would also make it impossible for her to have further children. Again, the student midwife was called upon to assist, patiently persuading the family of the absolute necessity of the operation in spite of the risks and long-term outcome. Some hours later, a healthy child was born and the mother’s life also saved.

“As the mother began to recover, she told our midwife, Deborah, how much her support and encouragement had meant to her,” Rachel says. “It was so important to the young mother that she has named her child after the midwife – Deborah.”

“In South Sudan, too many mothers and babies die in childbirth,” Deborah says. “I have wanted to be a midwife since I was in primary school. I want to make sure that mothers don’t suffer.”

It is amazing to reflect on this love and determination, given that these young women are themselves displaced from their homes, living as refugees with no way of knowing where their families are or when they might see them again.

UnitingWorld offers opportunities for individuals and communities to help support people like Deborah or to assist in the training of Christian leaders to share the good news of Christ in India, the Pacific and Africa. This Christmas, UnitingWorld is offering an opportunity for people to give gifts that do great things, with great love, through the “Everything in Common” catalogue. For more information, please visit everythingincommon.com.au

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