|
"Live Simply so People Can Simply Live"
-Ghandi-
"Tears of the Mother Are the Same"
-Anonymous-
"It is not the words of our enemies that we remember, but the silence of our friends"
-Martin Luther King Jr.-
The Persistence of Hope: Darfur Refugee Camps and IDP's in Eastern Chad from WBS
The nights in the refugee camps continue to be filled with cries of pain, anguish, and suffering. The women and children of Darfur constitute some 70% of the 200,000 + Darfurians who have fled their homeland to neighboring eastern Chad - nearly all living in 12 refugee camps in a territory that typically provides one physician for every 10,000 people. The brutality is heaped on refugee population on both sides of the border with Darfurian refugees, not to mention the little known 170,000 displaced Chadians. Yes, hope, a word cautiously used in this part of the world. The women and children need security and stability so that they can begin to manage beyond survival, that they don't fear repeated rape and attack when they gather firewood, or in unprotected camps. Counseling is needed in order to begin to repair the psychological damage of self and loved ones, that they can be tested for HIV/AIDS and have access to medications, nutrients and to clean drinking water, without which are killers in the dysfunction of survival in conflict areas. The future of this war torn region eventually rests with the women who will recover, nurture communities, revive a culture, and begin to raise the next generation in hope that it will not repeat or be drawn into murderous ways of the current one. Indeed, today's voiceless victims - the women and children - are tomorrow's protectors, healers, and safeguards. Tell their story...so that they can show their will to the world.
|
| ............................................................................................................................................. |
|
