Getting cold again...

Tonight was extremely cold and damp and we decided to pop down to visit the Sudanese boys who have all built a make shift home/ camp down at the coast here, just 15 mins from the city. We took them some donated blankets from donate4 refugees and some bags of goodies, fruit/ tissues/razor/chocolate etc...

I’ve been before and struggled then, but tonight also just raised in me those strong feelings of, this is so so wrong. The ground was awash with puddles and the boys were incredibly cold. We were encouraged to hear that local people were bringing them food very regularly and so they were eating ok. But they were very cold and face months and months, if not years, of these conditions.

The local police drove passed our sos chai ambulance regularly but didn’t give us a hard time. I’m sure they too feel the frustration seeing the conditions that these boys are living in week by week.

So why is nothing done to find dry, sheltered places for these boys to sleep In and why can’t we do better to welcome boys who’ve survived so much to get this far?

In the end, after some general chat, I just asked the question, how can we help? What do you need? And after chatting to each other, they answered, we need to keep warmer, we need more warm clothing. They need gloves, socks, coats, and warm thermal vests....

So I came away, as did our team, determined to find those warm clothes for these 75+ boys living in such damp and incredibly basic circumstances.

We’ve got appeals out to raise funds, and amazon wish lists which we’ll update with as many thermals as we can find! But please help if you can.

We had only been there a few minutes when a boy approached Gérard and I to say, we want to say thank you so much for all you are doing. They are always so incredibly sweet and grateful and I’m always so humbled by their attitude. I have never been to the Sudan but I have definitely grown to love the Sudanese people I have met. Such a gracious people, and so committed to looking after each other & building make shift families who look after each other’s needs so well. We learn a lot from their compassion for each other.

I am so much richer for these boys in my life, but I am also deeply saddened to know that so many are having to endure such hardships again this winter.

I’m praying for change, and in SOS Chai we will do all we can to make their winters a-bit more bearable. So please help us if you can. We really want to bless our Sudanese friends with as much warmth as we can possibly get hold of...they are such beautiful, warm people and we want them to know they are loved.