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Refugee crisis3 min read

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The night Patricia became a refugee

Kelsey Campbell
Sep 30, 2018

Dec. 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor was bombed

Nov. 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated

Jan. 28, 1986: The space shuttle Challenger exploded

Sept. 11, 2001: Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashed in a Pennsylvania field

These aren’t just days on a calendar that have come and gone.  For many of us, these are days that struck at our hearts. Why? Because our sense of safety, our feeling of normalcy, and our hope for the future were shaken. These are days we’ll never forget as a nation.

As individuals, we also have days that define us … dates that mark our lives forever: our wedding day, the birth of a child, the moment a loved one passed away.

Dec. 17 is the date that changed Patricia’s life forever. It is the day she became a refugee. Since that day, Patricia — like so many other refugees — has been struggling to survive. But your $35 gift will provide $189 worth of critical aid to one refugee like her.

We’ve changed Patricia’s name because she still lives in danger.

An explosion of mortars and gunfire woke Patricia up from a deep sleep that December night. She can still hear the echoes of screams in the streets as her neighbors and friends fled.

Disoriented, Patricia and her family gathered up a few belongings and left their home. They didn’t know how long it would be until they could return.

In one night, Patricia’s entire world fell apart.

Before Dec. 17, she had been a successful food vendor. She worked tirelessly in order to provide for her husband and her daughter through her growing business. But after that day, Patricia began a different life.

Her future became dangerous and uncertain when she arrived in Uganda.

It took Patricia and her family three days to arrive at the refugee camp; it was a long and treacherous trip. And they were not the only new arrivals. The camp was spilling over with people, and food was running dangerously low.

Now Patricia’s days consist of trying to scrape enough food together so she and her family can eat one meal.

Patricia wants the same things most refugees long for … immediate help and the chance to go home. “I want peace, so that I can return to South Sudan, get back, and start rebuilding my life and business,” Patricia said.

But in order to return home, Patricia and her family first have to survive. And they won’t survive without help.

Will you give one refugee lifesaving aid like food, medical care, clean water, and a reason to hope? All it takes is $35 to help provide an individual with the supplies necessary to hold on in the days ahead. And thanks to generous corporate donations and grants, that $35 multiplies to provide $189 worth of food, medicine, and more!

Patricia doesn’t know if or when she’ll be able to return to her home in South Sudan. In the meantime, she worries about how to feed her daughter, and she replays the night of Dec. 17 over and over again in her mind. She thinks of all she has lost — her home, her job, and the ability to provide for her family.

The day a person becomes a refugee is a day he or she will never forget. But you can make today another unforgettable day for a refugee like Patricia — by providing the lifesaving aid that person needs to survive.

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