United Nations Refugee agency or UNHCR says since April it was providing satellite phone call services to some South Sudanese displaced in the Protection of Civilian site in Wau to find and talk to their relatives displaced elsewhere in the country.
UNHCR Assistant Representative for Protection in South Sudan Gregory Balke says the satellite calls help IDPs to talk with their families across conflict frontlines and discover their members they thought were killed in the civil conflict.
UNHCR in a statement on Monday says it so far facilitated more than 110 satellite calls helping displaced families restore contact with their relatives amongst four states.
He says each family gets a ten-minute time slot, with UNHCR personnel supervising at both ends and additional time is availed to traditional chiefs and women’s representatives to enable them discuss humanitarian needs.
One of the South Sudanese identified by one name James, who had no news of his family since the start of the conflict, says it was a great relief to learn that his wife and children were all right.
He says now he forgot all the sadness of the past eighteen months after talking to his wife.
UNHCR Programme expert Jack Tut says it was a heartbreaking but also heartwarming experience as one man sang a church hymn of joy over the phone to his family members to reassure them he was indeed alive.