Alemwach refugee Camp
And love the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
It has been almost two years since the camp was opened in Alemwach. About 22,000 Eritreans live in the Alemwach camp.Alemwach camp is a refugee camp located 76 kilometers north of Gondar city and three kilometers west of Dabat city.
It has been almost two years (2020?) since the camp was opened in Alemwach. About 22,000 Eritreans live in the Alemwach
camp. Alemwach camp is a refugee camp located 76 kilometers north of Gondar city and three kilometers west of Dabat city.
After much discussion with the scripture engagement team that had made the previous trip, the local church leaders in the
refugee camp, and our north cluster coordinators, we decided to make women’s packages, children’s packages, and family
packages to be sent to the camp. The women’s package included menstrual hygiene products and soap;the Children’s package
had nutritional powder for kids (Vitabix) and vaseline; the family package included blankets, soap, hair oil, vaseline, and
supplementary protein containing flour (Famix). We ordered these things from their respective suppliers and arranged
transportation that would take them to the north.
After we picked up our orders for the women’s packages , we had volunteers from the Wycliffe Ethiopia office put them
together, enough for 300 women.
Putting the supplies together and getting them to the camp
The truck set off for north Ethiopia that night, and the remaining materials – Vaseline, hair oil, and soap, were loaded onto the
land cruiser to be transported with our selected team leaving two days later. Due to the load it was carrying, it took the truck
four days to reach the Dabat camp while it took our team in the land cruiser two days. Our four man team that set off from
Addis Ababa was made up of two cluster coordinators, our media person, and a leader in the local refugee church. They left
Addis Ababa in the morning and made it to their overnight stop, Bahir Dar at 6pm. They then continued on to Dabat early the
next day, and after a brief stop in Gondar city, made it to the town where the refugee camp is located at 2pm. The truck
shipment had arrived a little earlier than them so they went to the unloading site to make sure all the supplies got there
properly. They spent the day helping unload the truck and in the early evening they got together with the church leaders and
planned the details of how the supplies would be distributed.
Since permission was required from the government to enter the refugee camp, the permission had not been sent to the
representatives of the RRS (what is that?) in Addis Ababa. Before distributing the food, however, there was a temporary
disruption as a spiritual program had been organized by the church inside the Alemwach camp and the Wycliffe members
from Addis Ababa were asked to serve. After many calls and asking the permit authority in Addis Ababa, however, the permit
was sent, and we finally entered the Alemwach camp. About 250-300 believers gathered in the tent hall. Brother Tesfom, a
member of Wycliffe Ethiopia, shared a sermon based on the book of Ruth entitled “God’s Purpose in Our Suffering. Since the
crowd had already arrived at the distribution point, we directly assigned everyone involved in the distribution to their assigned
places and called the names by the list given to us. Within three hours, we had completed more than 80 percent of the
distribution. We completed the distribution program by bringing the remaining 20 percent to the distribution site on Thursday
morning. The distribution process went remarkably quickly as qualified people from the site were assigned to each of the four
members of Wycliffe Ethiopia.
The assistance provided through Wycliffe was based on research, taking into account the circumstances of the refugees.
However, there is one amazing testimony we heard behind the food distribution. That is, since after the aid through Wycliffe
Ethiopia, the refugees have not yet received the minimal food grants from World Food Programme (this sentence is not clear).
Brother ROBEL MICHIEL, the leader of the church in Alemwach camp, testifies: “Truly, truly, God sent you in His time and
hour, if the food aid that came through Wycliffe had not come then at the time it came, there would have been many children
and adults who would have lost their lives to hunger. For months, especially the Fafa you brought us has been our food. Many
souls are remembering Wycliffe and saving what you have given us. We do not know when the food aid will start. Send us his
testimony. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who have participated in this program. We would like to
testify that God has done His amazing work with this program of help and that it has led many to hope in God and trust in
Him.