Delivery of supplies for FLC's feeding program. |
From May 29 – 31 I made an onsite visit to the Boma Project. The main objectives of the visit included delivery of food supplies for FLC’s recently launched feeding program, and assessment of the general situation in Boma.
FAITH LEARNING CENTER: The one and a half plane loads of food supplies delivered to
FLC last week finally accomplished SEAP’s arrangement for feeding the students
for a full term while hoping that the arrival of UN relief food will eventually provide a
much longer term solution to the problem of hunger in Boma. The school feeding
program which was launched last month has improved both school attendance and
the health of the students
Concerning the UN relief food for schools, the good news is
that JAM has eventually returned to Boma with adequate UN food reserves; but the bad news
is that bureaucracy is still hindering the distribution of the food. It does
not make sense for food to remain hoarded in JAM warehouses while school
children are starving because instruction to distribute food has not been
issued by the Juba office. We are told that food distribution to schools will
not begin until sometime after mid-June.
Accompanied by FLC students to upper Boma. |
Upon my arrival in Boma, I saw many school children at the airstrip; I thought
they had come to help with transporting supplies to upeer Boma; but to my surprise I learned that all the women and children had been relocated from upper Boma to lower Boma due to the threat of an impending Kachipo attack
on Kaywa village, and that they had not attended school since Monday of the week. A good number of them decided to accompany me to upper Boma. They were fed and sheltered at SEAP compound for the night. Efforts to broker peace between the two communities is ongoing, and it is hoped normalcy will soon return to enable children to resume learning..
Inspecting crop health. |
AGRICULTURE: The land had been tilled in late March – early
April, weeded in early
May and planted. The crop is doing fine. Although
the agriculture project was launched late, I hope this year’s crop will
provide a good demonstration effect to the local community and pave way for a
bigger attempt at agricultural initiatives in Boma in future seasons.
Cow peas plant |
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