As Newcomers Stream into Kalma, Oxfam Provides Water for Tens of Thousands
2 April 2007
At Kalma camp in South Darfur, Oxfam is providing water to more than half of the 90,000 people sheltering there. In the last two months, more people have arrived – fleeing yet more violence and attacks on villages in the area. Most fled with just the clothes they were wearing and are now dependent on organizations like Oxfam for support. Oxfam’s staff members at Kalma are now providing displaced people with latrines, clean water, blankets, and shelter materials. Here is an update on the agency’s activities. Some of the names of people in this story have been changed to protect their safety.
It was during the holy month of Ramadan that Magda’s village was attacked. Survivors say armed men rode in on camels and Toyota land cruisers, looted the houses, and then burned them to the ground. Magda’s husband and oldest son were among the 48 villagers say were shot or burnt to death. Dozens of others are missing.
Magda, 23, and her three other young children fled to the nearby village of Amaki Sara to stay with relatives and to try and rebuild their lives. Then, in January this year, fighting between two local Arab tribes again erupted in the area. More villages were burned and several hundred people killed. The people of Amaki Sara decided to flee, fearing they too would be attacked.
“The area is not safe. Who can protect us? They can attack us whenever they want,” says Adam Juma, one of the village sheikhs.
Juma and the other sheikhs helped bring the villagers to Kalma camp, currently home to 90,000 people who have fled the violence in Darfur. They came on foot, a relatively short but dangerous walk of about 16 miles, with only the clothes on their backs. Bringing animals or cooking utensils would only have increased their chances of being attacked by bandits on the journey.
“We arrived in Kalma with nothing,” says Magda. “We had no food and no water. Just these,” – she points to her tattered clothes – “and this,” gesturing to the tiny tent cobbled together with straw and sticks behind her. It’s there that Magda, her children, her sister-in-law, and two nieces shelter each night. They sleep virtually on top of each other – to stay warm; to feel some semblance of safety after everything they have been through; and also because this small makeshift shelter is all they have.
Oxfam Supports New Arrivals at Kalma
Oxfam staff members at Kalma are now working to ensure that Magda and the others receive support. Around 800 villagers from Amaki Sara are sheltering here in this one area on the edge of Kalma. A similar number have taken refuge in another part of the camp.
“There are more who hope to come,” says Juma. “But although the journey is short, it is very dangerous.”
“We are building latrines for them to use,” says Abdelazim Ali, an Oxfam public health engineer at Kalma. “When new people arrive, sanitation is one of the biggest threats. Without proper latrines illness can quickly spread, especially when people are living in such basic conditions so close together.”
“We are also distributing blankets and plastic sheeting to improve their shelters, and soap and jerry cans for carrying water,” says Musa Dahab, Oxfam’s manager at Kalma camp. Oxfam’s team in Kalma is now made up entirely of Sudanese staff.
Others from elsewhere in South Darfur have also arrived at Kalma recently, as well as at other nearby camps. Many of the people have been displaced for the second or third time, as the violence has followed them wherever they fled. Nearly four years into the Darfur crisis, attacks on civilians continue unabated and tens of thousands of people continue to be forced from their homes every month.
The Journey May not be Over
But for many of the most recent arrivals, their long journey may not be over. Kalma camp sprawls for several kilometers along the railway line that cuts through South Darfur – a crowded and chaotic maze of ramshackle shelters. It is already operating at capacity and, given the crowded conditions, the government wants to declare Kalma “full” and move any new arrivals to nearby, much smaller camps. To make matters more complicated, many of the new arrivals have settled on lands that are prone to flooding in the rainy season, and so they will have to move again.
Most prefer to stay in Kalma, whether it’s overcrowded or not.
“At least we know people here,” says another of the sheikhs from Amaki Sara. “We feel a bit safer in Kalma because we have strength in numbers. Some of the villages near ours already emptied and settled here. They don’t have much, but what they do have they share. They share their food with us.”
The uncertainty over their future is amplified by the absence of a coordinating aid agency in Kalma. Until November last year, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) filled this role, ensuring that humanitarian operations were effectively coordinated and all displaced people – including new arrivals – were most efficiently assisted and located. But NRC had to suspend its operations in Darfur, citing constant obstruction to its work. Its absence has led to delays in finding many new arrivals a long-term site in which to shelter.
Meanwhile, all that the villagers of Amaki Sara can do is huddle together and wait.
