Alfred has been in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement for weeks. And in Bidi Bidi, which is vast with almost no means of transportation, you have to walk everywhere. But for someone like Alfred, whose legs are injured from a previous accident, even the walk to water is a challenge. When it rains and the dirt becomes slippery, slick mud, Alfred finds himself falling.
When he first arrived in Bidi Bidi he found a piece of wood and whittled a cane. “I made it,” he said, “but it doesn’t help me much.”
“We just want to enable them to have more freedom,” said Hildah, ARC’s Protection Manager in Bidi Bidi told us. Hildah and her team meet people like Alfred everyday. Many of them were injured as they ran, while some were already physically challenged and were carried the long journey to Bidi Bidi by their families.
So on Day 24 the team found a quick solution – crutches. The ARC team traveled through the communities where they work, meeting with men and women in need of an easier way to get around.
When Alfred received his pair he gestured to the rubber grips on the bottom. He said, “Now I can move freely. I won’t fall in the mud.”
Refugees like Alfred have an extra challenge when it comes to navigating a place like Bidi Bidi. And even though ARC staff were able to help him move more freely, there are so many others who could use a little extra assistance as well.
That’s why tomorrow we’ll go back to the health center at Ariwa, focusing our attention on the most vulnerable patients who visit – and making sure there’s someone there who can get them what they need.
