The civil war in Sudan has created the world's largest displacement crisis. More than 10 million people have fled their homes. More than 2 million of them have gone to neighboring countries, including 600,000 who have gone to Chad, where more refugees arrive every day. In some places, Sudanese refugees almost outnumber locals. Chad was already short of food and water due to a dry climate and frequent droughts. Resources are strained – and humanitarian aid organizations are unable to meet the needs of refugees. NPR's Fatma Tanis spent last week reporting from eastern Chad and spoke with All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro and Morning Edition's Lela Fadel about what she saw..
You went to a distant town called Gureda. Tell us what you see.
Gureda is about 20 miles from the Sudanese border. The only way is by road, which is unpaved and flooded and muddy. Now, the city is surrounded by huge refugee camps, home to around 90,000 Sudanese. Most of the adults are women – they told us that the men were either killed, missing or not allowed to leave Sudan by armed groups. More than half of the camp's population are children.
These refugees have harrowing stories of the war in Sudan. Many members of his family have been killed. But right now, they desperately need food and water and health care. The children I saw today were very thin. Many people told me that they were eating only one meal a day - a soft porridge made of water and flour.
I understand why food cannot reach Sudan because of the war, but you are in Chad. Why can't food reach those people through humanitarian aid organizations?
There are two main issues - funding and access. Edouard Ngoye, World Vision's country director, told me that 17 months into the crisis they have received only 20% of the funding they need for their response. Likewise, the United Nations says only 25% of the $1.5 billion needed to support Sudanese refugees has been received.
Then there is the point of entry. Yesterday on the way to camp our car got stuck in mud. Almost an hour passed. Heavy trucks carrying aid were almost impossible to get through.
Community leaders at this meeting told me that they want aid organizations to help them set up systems for water distribution and train people to earn a living in ways other than agriculture. But they say they have not received such help.
And what have you heard from the Sudanese refugees you've spoken to?
Their most pressing concern at the moment is, of course, hunger. One of the few women in the room spoke bluntly and said that malnutrition among women and children is out of control.
Others said they were forgotten by the world. One of the refugee elders, Yahya Adam Nadhif, asked me: Do the Americans know what is happening to us? And he said: "Our people are dying in Sudan because of war, and they are dying here because of hunger."
Did you talk to any refugee families? How are they coping?
In Adre, on the border with Sudan, I met 29-year-old Suad Abdul Aziz Ahmad. She was separated from her husband since they ran away a year ago and is alone here in Chad with her 5 children.
She and her children arrived in Chad with nothing but the clothes on their backs, which are now torn. Ahmed said they saw all kinds of atrocities on the road from West Darfur to Chad. She spoke of massacres and looting and dead bodies in the streets.
Since they arrived in Chad in April this year, their youngest daughter, Maha, who is 18 months old, became malnourished and is now receiving treatment. Children under the age of 5 are particularly at risk of malnutrition.
And despite all this it was unexpected how hopeful she was: that eventually the world was going to come to their aid, that she and thousands of other refugees would not be left here alone to starve.
In any hunger crisis, children are often the most affected due to nutritional needs. Is that the case in Chad?
it is. I went to a malnutrition clinic in Farchana, served local communities, and went to a huge Sudanese refugee camp of 20,000 people nearby. U.N. According to, 67% of the camp population are children. This is one of the few clinics in eastern Chad and is supported by groups such as UNICEF, the International Red Cross and World Vision.
You went to a distant town called Gureda. Tell us what you see.
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