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May 2008


Surviving in the Chaos - Stories from Darfur

A third of Darfuris live in displaced camps. This means about 2.5 million people.

Hamedya camp is one of the four IDP camps surrounding the town of Zalingei in West Darfur. About 100,000 people have lived in makeshift shelters in these camps since violence broke out in 2003. MSF-France has run an outpatient therapeutic feeding program in Hamedya camp since September 2007.
Internally displaced populations at the Hamedia camp in Zalingei, West Darfur. MSF has run an outpatient therapeutic feeding program in Hamedia camp since September 2007.
©
Hayato Oguchi

Ten Darfuris have accepted to describe their everyday life and what they have gone through over the past years. From these individual stories emerge both contrasting and common situations, such as the search for safety, the feeling of confinement and the lack of ability to imagine a future.

These stories have been heard in a range of settings, including in MSF health facilities (the pediatric department of the Zalingei hospital and clinics in Niertiti and Kutrum) and displaced persons’ camps in Zalingei as well as in Bulbul, in southern Darfur.

Click below to read this special report:

Surving the Chaos - Stories from Darfur


“We arrived here four years ago with nothing. We had just enough time to grab the babies before we left!We had our land, a few cows and our houses,but we were attacked. All the houses were burned and there’s nothing left.The entire village of Ourr came directly to Zalingei and we’re staying here. It’s difficult to leave the camp because of the problems outside. We’re not safe there, but we have to gather firewood for cooking.The main worry is security. And food.”

Women from the village of Ourr, now living in Hamedia camp, Zalingei, Darfur



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