In late February 2015, I was sent to Rwamwanja to get pictures of “a day in the life of food distribution.” My assingment was to turn the blur of activity and statistics into a photo-series that would tell the story of the relief work Samaritan’s Purse does in Ugandan refugee camps. At the time, Samaritan’s Purse was helping to distribute food to 217,000 people a month in Western Uganda alone.
Early morning in Rwamwanja.
Rwamwanja is a settlement for refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They’ve fled there because of rebels groups called M23 and FDLR that continue to stir up war in Congo, killing people as they go. In February there were approximately 40,000 people living in Rwamwanja. 40,000 people with stories of pain and death and family members left behind. 40,000 people who rely on the government and organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help them survive.
At around 7:30AM, World Food Programme (WFP) trucks began arriving at the food distribution site where refugee volunteers were ready and waiting to unload.
36.9 tons of food was unloaded at the distribution sight. In total, approximately 554 tons of food was delivered to Rwamwanja for distribution last February.
Maria, a Congolese refugee, volunteers her time to help with food distribution.
A UN worker inspects the beans for quality. If there are holes in the beans, that means they’re buggy. These beans passed inspection!
Caught taste-testing!
This is Emmanuel. He was born a refugee. During a lull in food distribution we played toss the sugar cane stick.
Each stack of food (50kg of beans, 50kg of maize, 50kg of corn soya blend, and oil) gets distributed to a group of 30 refugees.
Once all the food was distributed, the WFP trucks rumbled back to the food warehouse to start loading up for the next day's distribution.
