“Mommy, I want to go home”
After fleeing a ransacked home, Jolly and her family narrowly escaped death, finding rescue through emergency relief.
Terror filled her bones.
Paralyzed with dread, she prayed desperately as the Meitei mob scoured the house for more of her people. Her pale face and silent, shaky breaths painted a picture of the horrors she faced living in Manipur, India as a Kuki woman.
Jolly, a 39-year-old mother to 3 children, is desperate for peace. Once the owner of a small clothing shop, any livelihood their family had is long gone. The violence in Manipur radically targets her people; nowhere is safe. When a Meitei mob began scouring her area setting fire to their home, she and her children fled to a neighbouring friend’s house and pleaded to be let in. The neighbour refused: “No, don’t come in. If you come, they will kill me.” But the mob drew closer, and Jolly’s friend, terrified, couldn’t push them away. They ran into the house without enough time to even lock the door behind them — the Meitei people hunted, yelled, and broke things. Through all of this, Jolly prayed, “Today if you save me, I also will do good things in the future. This is a promise. I don’t want to die.” Desperation gripped her soul.
Miraculously, the Meitei people left without finding Jolly or her children. Now, knowing they were no longer safe, they fled to find any shelter, food, or fragment of safety. All Jolly had with her were a bag and a sweater. Their journey was long and uncertain, and death seemed to hide behind every corner for this family. The visual of Jolly’s children and husband being chased with a knife by a man filled with hatred for her people is a picture she will never forget.
Eventually, after a harrowing journey, they landed in a welcoming relief camp in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram. With tens of thousands of Kuki people displaced from their homes in Northeast India, many surrounding relief camps are overcrowded. However, Jolly and her family were placed in an old school building and given spots in the school. It has been an immense blessing, but not without its own struggles. The language barrier has been particularly burdensome to overcome for Jolly’s children, and they wrestle with adapting to this new world: “Mommy, I remember my shoes. I remember my dress.” The relief camps on their own have little food to go around, leaving many still hungry. While they are in a better place now, Jolly’s family still mourns the loss of their home. And with finding work being a great challenge, affording necessities is still onerous.
Seeking to meet the most basic humanitarian needs for those in incommensurate camps, Tearfund’s partner EFICOR took action. Targeting 550 households, the EFICOR team distributed at least 3 months’ worth of food and necessary supplies to those living in relief camps. Additionally, they’ve provided unconditional cash transfers for 390 families living in poor conditions, enabling them to buy clothing, food, and other necessities. Emergency relief is the first step toward long-term change, and Tearfund works continuously to equip people to lift themselves out of poverty.
For Jolly and her family, their lives have been changed through the support they’ve received from Tearfund’s partner. They now have access to necessities and are able to survive thanks to the emergency food aid. Unfortunately, the battle is not over and their lives are still a struggle. One of Jolly’s children can’t forget the way their life used to be: “I want to go home. I miss home. I miss our place. Mommy, sometimes I want to eat.”
Now enrolled in school, Jolly’s children must adapt to a new language, new environment, and new community. As they struggle to adjust from their old lives, they grow more distant from other children. Jolly prays every day for them, asking God for refuge.
Being displaced from one’s home is life-altering. Seeing this, Tearfund aims to bring the anchor of hope we have in Jesus Christ to those in deepest sorrow. Beginning with emergency relief, and then through long-term solutions, Tearfund works to shine the love of Jesus in the darkest places. Join us in this transformative work, providing hope in the name of Jesus.
