Meet Bithou Gatkuoth. Bithou is 27 years old and originally from South Sudan. He came to Kakuma as a refugee and now works as an Outreach Facilitator with FilmAid.

FilmAid’s Outreach Facilitators are integral to our work. They work tirelessly to bring about community engagement and participation through various media and workshops. As an Outreach Facilitator, Bithou is a trusted voice in the community. His day-to-day tasks involve meeting with diverse people across the camp and delivering vital information about camp services, as well as health and safety issues.

“ I want to play a key role…to do something to make a difference in other people’s lives.”

Bithou features in FilmAid’s recently short film, ‘Take the Time’, in which he describes having to flee his home in South Sudan after being witness to widespread violence, telling us, “…it was a terrible and horrible experience.”

After finding safety in Kakuma, he became involved with FilmAid with the hope of offering encouragement to other refugees who were facing the struggles of rebuilding their lives after similar experiences. The recent return of ethnic conflict in South Sudan and the steady increase in the number of refugees fleeing from Bithou’s home country means that FilmAid’s work in Kakuma - and the role of outreach facilitators like Bithou - is more important than ever.

Due to violent civil war, over 1.5 million people from South Sudan have been forced to leave their homes in the past 9 months. At least 40,000 have entered Kakuma Refugee Camp so far in 2014 and they arrive tired, confused, and overwhelmed. 60,000 more South Sudanese refugees are expected to arrive in Kakuma this year and the UN has warned that the country is on the brink of famine.

With your support, FilmAid can continue to bring life saving information to South Sudanese refugees, and help people like Bithou make the positive changes they envisage for their communities.