Out of the spotlight: Sudanese refugees in Chad
How people who fled conflict in Darfur are surviving after the spotlight is gone
In 2003 conflict erupted in Sudan’s Darfur region. The years that immediately followed saw a flurry of international news attention on the impact of the situation including close to 350,000 people who fled and found sanctuary in remote parts of eastern Chad. What has happened to these people since?
With little hope of returning to Sudan or being resettled in a third country, many of these refugees struggle to eke out a living in the near-desert landscapes where they are based.
No road reaches the far-East provinces of Chad, where water is scarce and food is rare.
“When the war broke out in Darfur, I had to leave”, recalls Zubeida, “I walked for twenty days to reach this camp (Iridimi)”.
Back in Sudan, she used to collect and sell wood in her village, but there are not many trees on this side of the border.
“I grow millet during the rainy season (June-September), but with the money I make selling it, I am only able to buy spices,” she explains.
Sudanese refugees would have little or nothing to eat or survive on if it weren’t for humanitarian aid from United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organisations. With the cereals that Zubeida receives from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), she prepares a food specialty from the region, a thick grain porridge called boule.
“Lunch time is my favorite moment of the day, especially when my father joins the family. This is uncommon, as men often eat aside. We eat boule and sometimes rice. I would like to eat meat, but I cannot afford it”.
Agriculture, herding and markets are not large enough to feed both the host and refugee populations.
Ahmad owns a small store in Iridimi camp, where he sells onions, pasta, sweets and sugar, but he rarely earns more than 500 XAF (0.9 USD) per day.
“I put in a lot of effort, working longer hours…but I don’ have any money to invest in my business,”he explains. “Sometimes, I have to travel to Iriba or Tiné (nearby towns) to work for a few weeks. While I am out, my brothers and neighbors take care of my wife and my seven children,”he says.
People have different ways of coping with scarcity. In Touloum camp, Hawa exchanges home-grown food with her neighbors to complete her ration.
“I put money aside every day and, when I have enough, I buy clothes for my children,” she says. “However, the priority is to feed them. I would not want them to be hungry and fall sick”.
Being out of the spotlight has resulted in shrinking support from the international community over the years. Social and economic integration of refugees in the local community will now be an important step towards a better future for all the inhabitants of Eastern Chad.
WFP’s food and nutritional assistance to Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad is made possible thanks to the support of donors such as the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the United States of America (USAID/FFP).
