Refugees seeking shelter in Wamena

Year: 2019-2020

As of late December 2018, more than twenty thousand Papuans have fled their residential areas in the Nduga area in Papua. This was ignited by the actions of the Indonesian army, which carried out a ruthless reprisal in the area, in response to the murder of nineteen workers on a connecting road by rebels from the so-called West Papua Liberation Army.

Kampongs were set on fire. The military were present at clinics, churches and schools. The population fled into the jungle in terror. Many of them are still there. At least thirteen people died of cold, exhaustion or hunger. Two thousand men, women and children decided to head to Wamena, the district’s capital, in search of safety and food. The grueling journey lasted 3 days and nights. But Wamena offers them anything but peace and security.

The army commando’s does not recognize them as refugees. They intimidate and threaten them, even the brave volunteers who provide shelter. Victor Mambor, Papua journalist, calls on everyone to declare these abuses to the world and come to the aid of the people. At the end of March, Hapin sent five Nazava water purification filters on request to Wamena, intended for the six hundred pupils who receive education in an emergency location.

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A cry for help from Papua – Hapin and Rajori join forces

Refugees from Nduga are taught in a makeshift school in Wamena

Since an armed conflict broke out in Nduga in December 2018, 30,000 people have fled their villages in this region. They have sought safer areas in and around Wamena and areas like Intan Jaya and Timika. These are mostly women, children and older people, who are without shelter, food and health care. They are seriously traumatized and afraid of strangers. As a medical team, we have visited these refugees three times so far and found many cases of respiratory infection, gout or rheumatic diseases, toothache, diarrhea with acute anemia, pneumonia, ear nose and throat problems and even cases of dysentery. The latter is caused by food shortages and polluted water. We have nothing to assist a mother during childbirth.

These are the words of Fransina Yoteni, the spokeswoman for the Port Numbay Medical team, consisting of 15 young and involved care providers: doctors, nurses, pharmacists and teachers. The team visits the 4,300 displaced persons living in many refugee centers in and around Wamena. They talk and exercise with the children, teach, practice trauma therapy for (especially) children and provide medical assistance wherever they can.

But further away from Wamena there are more shelters that the team members have not been able to visit so far. The Port Numbay Medical Team enlists the help of Hapin to reach these posts and to (continue to) pay for the logistics, medicines, medical instruments, stretchers and teaching materials. A program has been drawn up for two-week regular visits to each of the camps, from August 2019 to June 2020. We have already received much appreciated donations for this project, but we would like to do more. Hapin, in collaboration with the Rajori foundation, is supporting this medical team. There is good hope that even more organizations will join this initiative.

Thanks to your support Hapin and Rajori Foundation were able to finance three medical team missions. Thank you for your trust and support!