Sudan refugees' stories
Paul Hetherington, Media Officer with Save the Children, visited the refugee camps along the border between Sudan and Chad. The camps are home to thousands of families who have fled the fighting in Darfur. Here is an extract from his diary.
Thursday 24 June 2004
Day one
After a two-day journey from London, via N'Djamina Airport in Chad, we complete a long journey, in temperatures of up to 50 degrees celcius, to Abeche in south western Chad. The countryside we have travelled through is basically flat, dry grassland that at this time of year resembles a desert. Boulder outcrops, the remnants of long-extinct volcanoes, occasionally punctuate these vast plains. We manage to get air-conditioned accommodation for the night!
Day two
We travel to Farchana camp run by UNHCR. The camp is very impressive, with good, clean facilities, including a school and regular food and water distribution. There is a lack of pre-school facilities for under fives, something provided in Darfur, but otherwise all is well set up.
We talk with a number of family groups about how they came to the camp. All told the same basic story: "the Janjaweed militia took our animals and burnt our homes. We walked here, travelling only by night, hiding during the day". The only variations in the stories were in the make-up of the families and the number of days of travel required.
From Farchana we travel to Mamata, an informal camp where few facilities are provided as refugees are not encouraged to stay here. Indeed the camp is no more than 500 metres from the waddi (water spring) that separates Chad and Sudan.
We see a 20-year-old woman who is dying from bullet wounds she received this morning while seeking water from the waddi - shot by the Janjaweed. The women are sent because, if caught, the men are always killed, while women are usually only whipped and repeatedly raped.
Next to Mamatra is the village of Wandaloo, where the population has increased from just over 1,000 to 3,700 due to an influx of Darfur refugees. Here too the border is barely half a kilometre away and all live in fear of cross-border raids.
We spend the night at a Christian mission in Areba, where we find a breeze.
Day three
We travel back from Areba to Abeche, checking out the road conditions. It's clear that when the rains come in a little over a month, vehicular access to the camps will be cut. Indeed, even in the current dry conditions, two trucks are stuck in a dried-up river bed. We spend the night at the UNHCR compound.
Day four
We head north out of Abeche across an even more arid landscape towards the northern camps. It feels like the hottest day so far.
We tour Kounoungo Camp, which is also well set up like Fashana, though lacking in any educational materials for the school. This camp is on high ground and quite windswept at times. We talk to more families who catalogue more tales of rape and ill treatment.
From Kounoungo we move on to Mile camp, which is still being established. The ground has been laid out for another model camp, but currently most of the families live in makeshift shelters, still awaiting the delivery of tents. I have a long chat with the refugees, many of whom are teachers. They tell similar stories to those I've heard in the other camps.
New arrivals are constantly being processed and as dusk falls on our return the road is lined with new refugees making their way by cover of darkness on the last leg of the long journey to Mile camp.
Save the Children is working with the UNHCR to protect children caught up in this emergency and is looking at other ways to meet the needs of the people there. We are also very active in Darfur, Sudan.
