A Message to the outside world

There's no sea, there are few bottles.and there's little opportunity for many people living in the camps in Darfur to get a single message to the outside world. On a recent visit to several of the camps Oxfam is working in, people were asked, 'If you could send a message to the outside world what would it be?' Below are some of their responses.

El Salaam Camp

'When you go back you have to tell them that people here are really suffering.for food, for everything, and that it's very hard for us to stay and live in camps. We need to be able to go back home. We need peace. We need your support.' If we didn't give support what would happen? 'We'd suffer a lot.' Hawai

'.I need you to report back that we need to go back to our villages, we need peace to return, and security. And we need your support in this, and when we do return to the villages, we'll need support because there is nothing there.' Namma

'I like them to know about all our problems and the condition we are in here. I want the people of England and the rest of the world to know that women are really suffering in the camps, and we need your support. Please report all our issues and problems back to the UK and the rest of the world.' Khadeja

Abu Shouk Camp
'We urgently need there to be a comprehensive reconciliation between all the parties because as IDPs we are the ones who are being affected and harmed. We're the ones who are victims, we're the ones that are being harmed - not these other parties.they're not the victims. We don't know what the future is going to be. All we can hope is that God has it in his plans that peace will come.' Abdul
'Since we arrived, and we never thought we would - we never thought we'd stay alive after the situation we faced - we thanked God that the El Fasher community gave us water and allowed us to stay here. Since last year and until now people have been leaving and then having to come back again.because of the insecurity.so the camp is now very congested and this has created a lot of pressure on the water. Before, this problem was only in the areas where people who had recently arrived were staying, but now it's all over the camp. I just want to tell you so you can tell the people in your country about the situation.' Abdullah

Shangil Tobai Camp
'We want to ask the United Nations to help get a solution to the Darfur problem, so that we can restore peace and return to our normal lives.' Suliman

'Our life in the camp is hard. We are handicapped and not able to move freely. We would like to go back (home) because we are not happy with life in the camp. But at the moment we have no choice.' Kaltoma

Um Dukhun
'The situation is still not OK to return and there is a shortage of food.' Fatma

'We are suffering here and there is no work for us.' Ashta

'We're suffering. Men might take animals to sell but on their way back they will be robbed of the money. And we women try and help by making bricks but soon that will stop with the rainy season.' Amna

Kalma Camp
'The rains are coming.can you please send us some plastic sheeting?'

'I'm a sheikh (a community leader) but I'm also an IDP living in this camp. We're suffering a lot and we're asking the donors to support and assist us.' Sabir

'Up to today the violence is continuing in and around the camp. We ask the international community to help solve the Darfur problem, the conflict in Darfur.' Musa

'In all the Darfur states the IDPs are living as if they're in an oven. And even in the camps it's as if we are prisoners.' Musa

'For the donors.we appreciate what you have done but we are hoping your assistance will continue as this problem has still not been solved.' Sabir

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur-Chad is the largest in the world. More than two million people, nearly one in three of Darfur's population, have been forced to leave their homes and take sanctuary in one of the many camps. Each month thousands more are forced to flee. Some four million people - almost two-thirds of Darfur's population - are dependent on humanitarian aid. Despite managing to stabilise threats of epidemics in the camps, aid agencies are facing unprecedented difficulties in reaching those in need due to increased violence against aid workers and operations.

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