Darfurians have suffered enough already without vital aid now being taken from them, writes Alun McDonald.
Halima was the very first woman I spoke to in Darfur. It was three years ago, and I’d just arrived in Sudan. She was at a water point in the Shangil Tobai camp, showing her youngest daughter how to carefully fill her jerry can without spilling a drop. She told me how she had ended up in the camp.
“The militia attacked my village and set my home on fire. They killed my husband in front of my eyes. I grabbed my daughters and ran, and we didn’t stop until we reached the camp. We lost everything we had that day. All that I have in the world now is thanks to the kindness of people who have sent this aid - the food, the shelter, the water. Without it my children and I would have nothing.”
Now even that aid is being taken from her, and the water point where Halima stood risks running dry. Last month, Oxfam GB was expelled from northern Sudan and programmes helping 600,000 people were shut down. Work providing clean water, sanitation, education and microfinance to some of the poorest communities in Sudan abruptly ended.
In Shangil Tobai - a dusty market town on the main road linking the capitals of North and South Darfur - 2,000 more people have arrived in the past two months, fleeing recent fighting between rebels and the government. Many of the new arrivals are women and children, the most vulnerable of all. Oxfam engineers were preparing to expand our water and sanitation systems to meet the needs of the newcomers. But we were expelled before they could start.
Oxfam’s mechanised water pumps are the only source of clean, safe water for 40,000 people in the camps there. They are still pumping, but for how much longer is uncertain. Already people are rationing water, trying to make scarce supplies last longer.
In Kalma camp, a few hundred miles to the south, the mechanised pumps have already stopped, having run out of fuel which we used to bring into the camp. There are some handpumps, but these cannot provide nearly enough water and often run dry at this time of year - the height of the dry season. Oxfam provided 2,500 latrines in Kalma, and over the next two months these will begin to fill up and need replacing. At the same time, the annual rainy season will arrive.
Dirty water, inadequate sanitation and heavy rainfall - it’s a clear recipe for disaster. For most of the year Darfur is dry and dusty, but for a few months there are torrential rains - helping crops but also bringing diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and cholera.
In the impoverished, overcrowded camps a single case of such diseases can spread rapidly. Last year, for the first time in years, there were no cases of cholera - a result of months of intensive public health campaigns, educating children on the importance of good hygiene practices such as washing their hands after going to the latrine. This year our health workers will not be there to help the community prepare.
Last year’s rains brought floods and devastation to Kalma. Hundreds of homes and latrines were destroyed, and Oxfam staff had to distribute emergency shelter, clean water and soap, and rapidly construct new latrines. A repeat this year could bring disaster.
Similar concerns are emerging in most of the areas where we have been working. People in the camps of Abu Shouk and Kass have said that the sanitation situation is deteriorating, posing serious health concerns. Shortages of water in the camps around Kass, a busy South Darfur town, has also affected urban residents, who rely on Oxfam’s pumps in the nearby camps for getting safe water. In other areas, local Sudanese organisations trying to take on some of our activities say they will soon run out of funds and equipment.
The people of Darfur are incredibly resilient. They have survived years of drought, famine and war - with and without the help of aid agencies. But the ongoing conflict has left them more vulnerable than ever. When I spoke to Halima at the water point, she made it very clear that she didn’t want to have to depend on aid. She wanted no more than to go home and return to her farm and bring up her children. But while the violence continued, that wasn’t an option.
No matter how resilient people are, there is a limit to how much they can take. Darfurians have suffered enough already without vital aid now being taken from them. The impact of the expulsions is already being felt across Darfur, but is likely to get even worse in the coming months. One of the largest humanitarian crises in the world could get even worse.
More about Oxfam’s work in Sudan
I heard that some aid agencies had been allowed back. Is this true?
August 14th, 2009 at 2:47 pmHow large an area of Sudan is affected by this conflict and other conflicts?
Thank you.