American actress Patricia Heaton known for portraying Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’, has traveled with the evangelical humanitarian aid agency World Vision to serve South Sudanese refugees in Uganda.
On Saturday, Heaton, who is an outspoken Christian conservative, posted a video on her Facebook page showing her reading prayers that fans sent for her to encourage a 14-year-old refugee child named Victor at the Imvepi settlement camp.
Since December of 2013, brutal conflict in South Sudan has driven nearly four million people from their homes.
Imvepi settlement where Patricia Heaton landed was launched after Palorinya settlement in Moyo district, which was opened in December 2016, rapidly reached its 135,000 refugee-hosting capacity.
More than 3,000 South Sudanese refugees have already made Imvepi their new home in the last one year. Heaton and World Vision narrate that Victor is now the caretaker of his three siblings after having to flee South Sudan in 2016 without his parents when violence broke out in their area.
According to the agency, Victor and his siblings lost contact with their parents when the fighting occured, and Victor was forced to take on the role no older brother ever wants to take on.
Without their parents, Victor and the siblings walked for over two weeks and were forced to eat anything they could get their hands on as they sought safety. Thanks to help from World Vision, Victor and his siblings are now being aided by a foster family and have returned to school.
Heaton was joined on the World Vision trip by Ray, who plays neighbor Nancy Donahue in “The Middle.” Among the many activities the actresses did to help the refugees was prepare meals at the refugee camp.
Others who participated in the World Vision trip include Walmart Chief Finance Officer Brett Biggs and Philanthropist Susan Foster.
World Vision, which operates in dozens of countries around the world, seeks to provide the much needed aid to the over 60 million children and families who have been displaced from their homes because of conflict.
By Staff Writer.
