Walking and talking with children of conflict
by Tania McBride, UNICEF Communication Officer El Fasher, North Darfur, 9 April 2008 - At the water pump she tentatively walks over to me, past the other boys and girls, and takes my hand. The small four year old girl seems surprised and perplexed by the fact that my hand is soft like her own, and she beams with delight as she bravely entwines her fingers around mine. At her tender age there is no doubt that the life she has experienced so far has been that of an internally displaced person in one of El Fasher’s three main camps. Abu Shouk, Al Salaam and Zamzam camps now have the infamous honor of accommodating approximately 140,000 internally displaced persons. It is estimated that half of these are children who having survived the fighting of the past five years and sought with their families the relative security of a town and a camp that provides much needed humanitarian assistance. UNICEF’s role in all three camps is significant and visible. Around the water points where many women and children pump litres of valuable clean water every day, children surround the UNICEF vehicles during monitoring visits, and give my colleagues the universal sign for “everything’s ok” – a big thumbs up. UNICEF’s role in providing clean water for both displaced and rural communities in Darfur is significant – access to clean water amongst conflict affected populations in 2005 was 63 per cent; now it stands at 76 per centaccess to clean water amongst conflict affected populations in 2005 was 63 per cent; now it stands at 76 per cent. Children clamor to shake your hand - humbling and embarrassing at the same time – as for me, it is these same children who are the source of inspiration, who keep your feet on the ground in the whirlwind environment of Darfur, and who make me get out of bed every day, make me feel proud to be a part of an organization whose mandate exclusively advocates on the behalf of these children and women. Throughout the camps children are given opportuntities that, ironically, they may not have had in their villages of origin. Education and access to schooling have become priorities for many parents who have fled with their families to the El Fasher camps. UNICEF has responded to those priorities, through building schools in all the camps, training teachers and providing much needed textbooks and student teacher kits to partner organizations and the State Ministry of Education, who manage the day to day education programmes in the camps. Today, UNICEF estimates that there are more children in school across Darfur than before the conflict – more than 873,000 students, more than 40 per cent of them girls, are now attending classes. The youth are not forgotten either. Drama competitions with themes around key issues such as as HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence are supported by UNICEF and implemented by partner organizations. These competitions always draw a large audience from the very young to the most elderly – exposing them to a number of messages around key issues in an entertaining and humorous way. Last year alone, a UNICEF-supported awareness campaign on HIV prevention reached an estimated 3.2 million people through local radio, while more than 36,000 young people took part in peer education projects on the subject. But it’s the small children who pull at your heartstrings; those who have the nightmares and whose young eyes are etched with fear. The need for psycho-social support for children who have been the victims of this conflict has been recognized by UNICEF. Child Friendly Spaces established by UNICEF in the camps are safe havens for some 147,000 children across Darfur, aged from 2½ to 6 years. Here, they play, draw, and are entertained by ‘theatre for life’ troupes (themselves selected and trained from the current displaced population). The smiles and laughter of the children that I see every day – albeit sometimes fleeting - demonstrate that at least for now we are helping creating some notion of normalcy in a situation that is, for all purposes, far from normal for any child.
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