Heavy rains threaten to cut off Darfur region

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August 2004

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Heavy rains threaten to cut off Darfur region
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Heavy rains threaten to cut off Darfur region
Um Labassa/Kubum, August 4, 2004— It is now only a matter of time before heavy rains completely cut off areas in Darfur, putting thousands of people at risk of becoming isolated and without proper access to aid.

Fatima Khalid is afraid of this happening.

"We are so cold when it’s raining. Our children are freezing and they easily get sick. We need proper shelter to protect us from storms hitting this area. I fear what will happen if it is not possible to get more aid, as we are not able to farm on our own land, " she says.

Fatima fled her village after the Janjaweed killed her husband. The last six months have seen her struggling to make a home for herself and her children in a camp, which is located a few hundred meters from the rural hospital.

"The local population has done a great deal to help people who have sought refugee here. They are all lacking proper health care," says Mayen Wol Jong, who heads up the ACT/Caritas Nyala office. "ACT/CARITAS will provide emergency facilities, medicine and other necessities. And by phase two [of our emergency response] we will rehabilitate existing health facilities," he adds.

This gives Fatima Khalid some hope. Life in the camp has been hard. Living so close to a wadi (gully)—a breeding place for mosquitoes--exposes people living in the camp to malaria, which is an illness that can be fatal without proper medical care.

"I just want to go home and do some farming on our land. But we don’t dare to go back before it is safe. We are all afraid of what will happen in the future", she says.

Inside the rural hospital, another woman, Halima Abdullah, sits with a relative. Also named Fatima, the sick woman is sweating and not responding to Halima, who explains that her relative had fallen ill shortly after giving birth to a daughter two weeks ago. Halima has been trying to feed her and keep the flies at bay.

"We think it is cerebral malaria. I am sitting here all day, but she won’t talk to me. She might never be well and we have no money for medicine," says Halima.

On the horizon, nature puts on a forceful display of lightening accompanied by rolling thunder. Halima tries to move Fatima's bed to the middle of the room, while at the same time protecting the baby.

Back in the camp, Fatima Khalid tries without success to hide from the heavy downpour. Two hours later the wadi overflows, threatening her shelter.

Both women know and understand that with every storm that hits this area, they are become increasingly isolated.

An ACT/CARITAS team that had just arrived back in Nyala, after setting up emergency health facilities in Um Labassa and Kubum, can attest to this threat. A journey that would normally have taken only a few hours now takes more than a day, as repeatedly, as vehicles and the truck carrying aid become stuck in the wadies.

In Um Labassa and Kubum, people watch the rain in fear.

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