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Visiting Trocaire
- Malachy Harty.
Since arriving in Sudan, we have met with nothing but
genuine friendliness. Strangers repeatedly join us on
the streets to buy us teas and juices. "It is my
duty", they say. We feel no threat here in Khartoum,
as we greet dozens of homeless 'urban poor' who sleep
at night on the street below our hotel balcony.
However, there is no avoiding the fact that Sudan
remains in the depths of a crisis which continues to
tear asunder the stability of the country. A hopeful
ceasefire in the south has ended much suffering but
blood continues to spill in the West and East. Some
blame the government for spending oil money in
Khartoum and allowing the straw shacks of the
provinces to rot. Others point out that this
government is steadily moving away from the previously
oppressive sharia law. Whether or not the government's
policies will result in a prosperous and fair Sudan
remains to be seen. In the mean time, good people are
caught in the turmoil. Their lives are put on hold.
They live to survive.
Last week, we visited Trocaire's office in Khartoum to
speak to Trocaire's country coordinator, Mohammed
Osman. The office is a low key affair, a couple of
rooms located above the Sudanese Development Authority
- one of Trocaire's partners in Sudan. Mohammed
explained that Trocaire works with about a dozen Non
Government Organisations in Sudan. These NGOs work in
targeted areas on capacity building, conflict
resolution, and livelihood and food security. Local
NGOs often have a grassroots level awareness of the
issues and the local knowledge to propose and
implement workable solutions. We arranged a visit to a
camp for IDPs (Internally Displaced People) at Wad El
Bashir, north of Khartoum. Juma and Moses from Lokita,
one of Trocaire's partners, brought us to some of
their projects which have been funded by Trocaire.
Lokita took us to see their community centre where
they organise capacity building workshops and courses
in areas such as adult literacy and health education.
Trocaire provide funding to the centre. During the
courses, which are mainly attended by women, the
centre provides meals and childcare facilities.
Traditional roles have been reversed. Men used to be
the bread-winners. Now, they cannot find employment.
Some women brew alcohol to make an illicit income.
They get put in prison, with their children. Girls
work as domestic helpers in wealthy homes. At home,
these people lived off the land. Here you drive for
five kilometers and all you see is brown mud houses,
stick and sheet shacks and dust.
Khartoum is surrounded by planned and unplanned IDP
camps, temporary accommodation for over 2 million
people who want to go home. They have come from the
South, West and East of Sudan to escape various
ongoing conflicts. The IDP camps in the conflict areas
and the refugee camps in neighbouring countries are
renowned for night raids. One eighteen year old we met
spoke of his youth. He was born in the South of Sudan.
He fled to a refugee camp in Ethiopia to escape the
civil war when he was ten. The camp was regularly
raided, often by soldiers. People were killed. Food
convoys were attacked. Although IDPs are safe in
Khartoum, they are treated like an unpleasant
infestation. The population of the IDP camps fluxes
according to conflict in Sudan. Since the end of the
civil war in the South last January, the camps have
started to shrink slowly as people manage to gather
the funds and the courage to go home. NGOs are working
to assist the repatriation of the IDPs to their homes
in the South as they become safe. The NGOs will move
with them to assist in the provision of services such
as schools and hospitals.
In the planned areas, many families have constructed
reasonable houses from home-made mud bricks, light
timber lats and woven palm leaves for a roof. "Some of
these will wash away in the rains next month. People
have died here in heavy rains". In the unplanned
areas of Wad El Bashir, IDPs live in makeshift homes
made from available materials - sticks, cardboard and
sacking. Neither of us entered one of these tiny
patchwork tents and even if we did, we couldn't
appreciate what it must be like to live in one. They
would be a fun toy for a six year old to play in, but
here, thousands of families are living for years in
these appaling conditions. Two years ago, the
authorities began to bulldoze makeshift and brick
houses to roll out planned housing. Although mud
houses and rough dirt streets are appearing slowly,
thousands are left to suffer another wet season
without adequate shelter.
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