MANUS EMERGENCY FUND UPDATE Sunday 26th November

Hi everyone,
So it has been a pretty terrible few days for the men.

Thursday and Friday saw PNG immigration and police using violence to forcefully move the men onto buses and into town.
Many men have been injured in the process, and there are still men who do not have a bed in town and are sleeping on the floor in classrooms and prayer rooms.

Construction of some accommodation is still not complete. Power and water is still not fully functioning in some of the compounds.
The system for getting the men food and their allowance is still not in place.
The system for the men to get free medication is not functioning yet.

Locals blocked roads in protest at the relocation of the men, and I’ve been getting lots of messages from men who are not feeling safe at all.

In short, the whole relocation has been a traumatic mess for the men. Facilities, services, healthcare and adequate security are STILL not ready….nearly 4 weeks after the closure of the RPC…yet they have forcefully and violently moved the men into the town compounds.

The men are still not safe and free, and still have no answers about their future.

Support with food, cigarettes, toiletries etc is likely to continue to be needed over coming weeks until things are in place for the men to be able to purchase these themselves.

During the attacks on the men in the RPC on Thursday and Friday, immigration and police destroyed the men’s food, water, clothes and other possessions, going room to room. They even set fire to some.
They also smashed or stole many of the men’s phones. They especially targeted anyone who was photographing or filming what they were doing.
Many men were beaten and forced onto buses without being able to gather any of their belongings at all.

Some men have been left with literally only the clothes they were wearing.

The men are rallying together to support each other, but they now need our assistance to replace phones, clothes, shoes and other posessions destroyed by police and immigration.

GFMAN are taking details of the men who have lost everything and have started the process of getting emergency purchases of clothes, shoes and phones for the men.

If you have a friend who has lost their clothes and other possessions, please get them to message me, or you can message me on their behalf.

Many of the men were injured on Thursday and Friday. Some men have required medical attention to treat serious cuts and other wounds. But they do not have the medical supplies needed to then continue to change the dressings.

GFMAN have purchased all the wound dressings we could locally for two of the compounds for the men who were injurred by police and immigration, and will be getting more supplies delivered in the coming week.
These are at Hillside and West Haus now if you have a friend needing wound dressings/antiseptics etc.

There are also many men with both chronic and accute infections and illnesses needing medication. The men are supposed to be receiving their medications for free for the first 6 months post closure of the RPC, but this system is not in place and functioning yet and the men have been expected to pay to get their scripts filled.
We will continue to try to support men with access to meds until IHMS have this sorted out.

Men can attend the IHMS clinic to get their prescriptions, then send a message to me (or you can message for them) to ask for assistance with payment.

There are hundreds of men affected by the need for financial assistance with medications and with the need for phones and clothes.
And we continue to need your support to be able to supply these.

Thanks everyone.
Ali Murdoch
Gifts for Manus and Nauru
giftsformanusandnauru@outlook.com.au
or
facebook.com/ali.murdoch

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