by
Warren Bachand
| Jan 16, 2012
Sunday, 15 January, we drove to Mbarara in SW Uganda to visit Medical Teams International's work in the Nakivale Refugee Camp. The camp is managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Medical Teams International has been working there since 2009 providing health care services for up to 25,000 people as one of the UN’s implementing partners in health. The camp is over 85 square kilometers in size; a huge area filled with refugees from Somalia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Kenya and even one refugee from France.
The majority of the refugees come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because of the rebel fighting that has existed for over 20 years. Recent elections in the DRC are causing more Congolese to cross the border into Uganda and end up in the Nakivale Refugee Camp.
Medical Teams International has done a great job in providing health care services to our assigned refugee population.