Chagai Lual knows what it’s like to be a refugee – to have to flee from your home and live in a camp where medical aid, food and clean water are scarce.
Lual was only 14 years old when his village of Nyongrial in South Sudan (formerly part of Sudan) was destroyed by civil war. He and a group of young people, the oldest only 16 years old, fled to nearby Ethiopia, where he spent five years living in a refugee camp. Lual was eventually forced to return to Sudan, but shortly after his family immigrated to Egypt and then Canada, settling in New Westminster in 2003.
Today, Lual is the executive director of the Padang Lutheran Relief Society, a New Westminster-based charity that provides aid to people living in South Sudan, which declared independence of Sudan in 2011, specifically his home village of Nyongrial.
South Sudan had been a peaceful country since its inception, but a conflict between the military and government has led to a civil war that has completely destroyed the village of Nyongrial and all the progress made by Lual and the society.
“During the fighting, when (the rebels) captured that area, they destroyed the facilities,” he said.
Those facilities included the elementary school the society fundraised to build in 2010 and has been overseeing, at a cost of $1,500 per month, since then.
“That school has been destroyed now,” Lual said. “There’s destruction all over the place.”
The war broke out nearly one month after Lual returned from Nyongrial, on Dec. 15, and hasn’t stopped yet.
“The conflict is caused by power struggle within the leadership,” he said. “The military divided and the (politicians) divided, and they all fought.”
The people living in Nyongrial fled the war zone and are now either living in a refugee camp set up by the United Nations or are hiding along the northern border of South Sudan, Lual said.
“The UN is still there trying to set up the camp, but the (people) are now living and staying under the trees,” he added.
According to the United Nations, about 10,000 people have been killed during this power struggle and more than 600,000 people have been forced to relocate, either to other parts of the country or to neighbouring countries like Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
Lual said he was shocked and disheartened when he learned that a war had erupted in South Sudan, especially after he and his organization had worked so hard to help people in Nyongrial.
“I just came (back) in November. I was (in Nyongrial) for eight months running the school and doing other activities. It was peaceful at that time,” he said.
Lual intends to return to Nyongrial at the end of February with a group of volunteers to assess the damage and provide some much-needed medical aid, as well as food and clean drinking water. The society is also doing its part to help those affected by the conflict by raising money to send overseas. Lual said they want to raise about $50,000 by the end of May for emergency response assistance.
“Our focus was to raise money to go and help people in the refugee camp and then later, when we see that peace comes, we can think about rebuilding the school,” he said.
To donate to the Padang Lutheran Relief Society, visit www.plcr.org/donate.html or contact the society by phone at 604-528-3888.
