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Sudan Emergency: Older People's Voices
By
Kate
Holt
HelpAge
International,November 12, 2004
Fatima
lives with her seven grandchildren
in Krinding
camp
"WITHOUT NEIGHBOURS, I WOULD DIE"
Halima Ahmed Hissein lives alone in Goker camp. "I am nearly 80 years old, I think. I was born here and moved away when I got married but moved back when my husband died ten years ago.
"I had four children, but two died when they were babies. Of the other two sons, one escaped to Chad with his wife and family and one had to leave to find work.
"Now I live alone here in a deserted house. I don't have money to buy food. Sometimes people give me food but many of my friends have left because of the war and I don't know the new people.
"I am too old to grow food. My cooking pot was stolen. My neighbour gave me an old one but it has a hole in it. The enemies stole my seven cows and ten goats.
"When they attacked I couldn't run. Some neighbours helped me to the fields and hid me under the trees. I stayed there for four days because I was scared.
"I am still scared they may come back, even though I have nothing left to steal. I am afraid they may kill me.
"All I want is for this problem to be solved so that things can be normal again. If there was somebody to look after me things might be better. I don't know if my sons will come back.
"There is no medicine here and my stomach is sick. I collect leaves and boil them to drink for medicine. People help sometimes with what little they have. Without them I would have nothing and die."
"I DON'T WANT TO RISK BAD THINGS HAPPENING AGAIN"
Fatima, who lives in Krinding camp, thinks she is over 70 years old. "I came to this camp from Kria, a village seven kilometres west of Geneina, nearly eight months ago.
"I came here by myself with seven grandchildren, aged three to eleven. One of their fathers was killed when the fighting started. Another was shot in the knee and is now in Geniena hospital. I don't know if he will recover.
"Another son fled to Chad when the fighting started, and the fourth went to Khartoum to find work because our family needed money.
"When we came we had nothing. Everything in our village had gone or been burnt. I made this shelter from wood and twigs, and we were given some plastic sheeting.
"Neighbours who have cards for food share what they get with us. We haven't got a card for food yet, only for plastic sheeting and soap.
"My eldest granddaughter collects grass from around the camp to sell at the market. Sometimes she makes some money to buy food. The four boys go to school and the youngest children stay here with me.
"It would be good for us to go back to our village but I am not willing to take the children back unless the United Nations makes it safe. Seven of my relatives have been killed. I don't want to risk these bad things happening again."
HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL'S RESPONSE
HelpAge International is working in West Darfur - in Goker, Sisi and Krinding - where there are large numbers of older people. The older people are especially vulnerable because they have lost their homes, and their networks of support (see Sudan emergency). Our work includes:
- helping to establish older people's committees to represent their needs, providing the committees with registration books, mats to sit on, and shelters where members can meet and hold training sessions
- purchasing mosquito nets and sleeping mats, cooking sets, blankets and household goods for distribution
- seconding a protection officer to UNHCR to enhance older people's protection rights within the agency's programme response.
For more information visit
Help Age International's website www.helpage.org
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