'We feel very scared.'

If adults don't often get the chance to send a message to the world outside Darfur then it's virtually impossible for children. Below children, boys and girls, aged between 7 and 14 talk about what it's like to live in a camp and describe a typical day in their lives.

What's it like living in the camp?'
'We're staying in straw shelters with plastic sheets. They're now destroyed and are in bad condition. Water is short. I feel that in the rainy season we will not be protected from the rain because of the condition of our shelter. And the distance we have to go and collect firewood is too far. It takes us over 5 hours. We go in groups of 3 to 10 - boys and girls together.some adults go with us. Sometimes, when we are collecting firewood we face problems. Harassment from people we don't know. Sometimes we have to pay to collect wood.if we go with a donkey cart. We don't know who they are. If we can't pay 500 SD (£1.25 or $2.5) they won't let us collect wood. Sometimes we find people with guns who harass us - Arab people. When we see these men with guns we feel very scared (all the children agree). When we see them we try and run away. Sometimes they hurt us.when we return we tell our fathers.'

Can you describe your day?

The boys
'We get up at sunrise and we say our prayers. Then we go and get water for our families. After that we go to the border of the camp to collect grass and any pieces of firewood we can find. We take the grass to the market. We only get 300 SD for the grass. Sometimes it's less.and you can wait a very long time before you sell it. Then in the evening, around 4 to 5 o'clock we play football or play with our toys. When it gets dark we go into our shelters.we don't go out when it's dark because we're afraid. Then we go to sleep.'
Do you not eat? 'Yes! We eat twice a day. We have our breakfast around 10:00 and our dinner at 8:00.'

The girls
'When we get up during the dawn we pray. Then we go and collect water.then we'll prepare breakfast. The smaller girls will help their older sisters or their mother but the older ones will prepare breakfast by themselves. Sometimes we'll wash clothes. Then we'll go and collect grass.but that's not every day. Later we might have a rest before preparing dinner. Between 4 and 5 we'll play with our friends.skipping, basketball or with toys.they're home made toys. After dinner we just sit and chat with our families because we're too scared to go out when it's dark. Then we go to sleep.'

Do none of you go to school?
'Yes! We all go to school! But the schools are closed at the moment. When school's open we go from 8 until 2.'

Do you like school?
'Yes.because we like to learn and we want to get an education.'

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I would like to be a teacher (girl).a doctor (boy).an engineer (girl).a captain.a pilot (boy).a nurse (girl).a teacher (girl).a doctor (boy).a doctor (girl).a teacher (boy).a driver (boy).a doctor. a teacher (boy).an engineer (boy)

What do you think life is like in my country.the UK?
'Life there is very different because there is peace. Not like here, where there is a lot of conflict and fighting, and we are very scared. They're really wealthy and they have a high income, and have good living conditions there, unlike here.'

In another camp Mahmoud, aged 14, describes what life is like for him in the camp.

'I've been here 3 years with my mother and father, six brothers and three sisters. Life in the camp.it's not good. We're not happy with the life here. Life in my village was very good but it isn't very good here. I'd like to be living back in my village.like it used to be.'

The message he would like to send back to boys his own age in the UK is, 'To be good children, to help keep things clean, to concentrate on your education and to work at sport, especially football.' I'm struck by the fact that at 14 he still sees himself as a child.and despite all the traumatic things he's probably seen in his short life.

These children have spent over three years of their lives in the camps in Darfur - a long time in any child's life. Soon many of them won't be able to remember the life they had before.one that was safe and secure.

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