Media, Technology and Peace

Who would you call if you had 3 minutes?

March 25, 2016

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What if you were separated from your family by war and were able to make just one 3-minute phone call? Who would you call? What would you say? Civil war has been raging in South Sudan for three years. There’s brutal fighting between President Kiir’s troops and forces opposing him, and it is civilians who have suffered the most. Millions have fled their homes, and many families have been separated. The International Committee of the Red Cross is working to re-connect families from South Sudan, but precious phone calls can only be for three minutes. Nyiakubo was calling her brother whom she thought had been killed in the fighting. She hadn’t heard from him since 2013. During the call she started to cry. “I am crying because I thought that my brother had been killed, but now I hear his voice. I’m so happy,” she said. Wan was calling his wife. He hadn’t spoken to her since March 2014. He wanted to know how she was and to encourage her to be patient. “In time,” he told her, “we will be together again.” Chieu was calling her husband who was studying in Addis Ababa. They hadn’t been able to speak since April 2015. She had news for him: she was pregnant! But she wanted him to know she was fine and that he must continue with his education.” Phone calls are just one of the ways the International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to improve the lives of civilian caught in war. Over 112,000 phone calls have been made, 7,700 messages hand-delivered and over 700 people have been reunited with their families.