Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2013 Issue | Page 6

A Calling to a Far Flung Place
Buck Blanchard
I’m not sure why I felt called to go to the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan.
Perhaps that’s the nature of any calling. It’s a feeling really, and one that’s tough
to pinpoint. Maybe we’re not supposed to know why we sense a calling. What
we’re called to do is respond – just go – and figure out the "whys" along the way.

But unanswered questions have a
way of sticking around, so I’m still asking
why? Maybe it was simply the chance to
ride in a United Nations helicopter. The
Yida refugee camp in South Sudan is just
12 miles from the border with northern
Sudan. And during the raining season,
the make-shift dirt runway is too wet for
planes to land. So I got to sit in the back
of a transport helicopter with about a
dozen relief workers, none of whom had
yet to see their 30th birthday.

Or maybe it was the desire to
understand how a place like Yida exits.
The camp is populated by Sudanese
fleeing from the bombing just north
of the border. They have walked three
or four days to cross into South Sudan
and escape the terror in their home
villages. The government of (north)
Sudan is bombing its own people
because rebel groups are present in
the Nuba Mountains. Why not bomb
everyone, the theory goes: you’ll kill
some civilians, but presumably you get
some rebels too.

Or maybe I went to see what a
refugee camp looks like – one where
60,000 people now live. It is not a
barbed wire compound like you see in
the movies, but a virtual city of straw
buildings with blue plastic United
Nations tarps for roofs. A dozen nongovernmental organizations provide
services to the community. Relief
workers and refugees live side by side
in the camp.

Or maybe I went to understand
how the Episcopal Church operates in
such a place. I discovered that there
are 4,000 loyal Episcopalians in Yida,
served by only five Episcopal priests
who are also refugees. The priests had
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no vestments, not even clergy shirts
and collars. So we were able to deliver
shirts, stoles and chasubles (all gifts
from clergy here) and they celebrated
like it was Easter. Church was simple,
and simply awesome.

Or maybe I felt called to visit Yida

There were close to 200 people there,
learning their multiplication tables. The
youngest student was about eight, the
oldest close to 80. There were more
women than men. And the class was
equally divided between Christians and
Muslims. Their professor was 14 years
old. Amazed doesn’t come close.

On the last day we saw an ominous
shadow. We looked up to see a huge
transport plane descending over the
camp. As it drifted over the runway, the

Photo: Buck Blanchard

Former missionary Robin Denney gathers with three Episcopal priests in Yida.

to catalogue the needs in the camp.
Under the leadership of the faith
community, the people of Yida are
working to establish clinics, schools,
gri