Jonathan Pearce describes a day with one of Merlin’s mobile teams reaching the displaced and the destitute in Darfur.
At 9am sharp our convoy pulls away from Merlin’s base in Nyala. This poor and dusty town in south Darfur has been spared the worst of the conflict that has raged for the past three years. But the landscape for hundreds of miles around is marked by burnt out villages and sprawling camps set up by people forced from their homes. On the outskirts of town we pass Kalma, considered to be one of the world’s largest camp for displaced people.
Our destination lies several hours further on, in Shearia district. Most of the two million people made homeless in Darfur are scattered in smaller camps set up alongside existing villages. Since 2004 Merlin has been the sole source of medical help to about 50,000 people in this area.
After half-an-hour we reach a checkpoint. The details of our vehicles are checked and we pass with little fuss. We’re now in rebel-controlled territory. Here there are no hospitals and no organised medical services apart from those provideed by Merlin.
There have been few security incidents in the past few days, but even so the going is tough. The summer rains have come and our route takes us through several swollen riverbeds. Driving through what looks like a flooded forest we reach an impass. An hour later, after digging out two of our vehicles and towing away a truck that was blocking the route, we continue on to Hijer camp.
About 12,000 people live in Hijer. The vast majority fled homes and villages in other parts of Darfur when they were attacked by the notorious Janjaweed militia. Their new homes are small straw structures covered by sheets of blue plastic.
The rains have delayed us and so the team waste no time getting to work. A year ago Merlin established a simple straw health post here, which is divided into a series of consultation rooms. Around one hundred women have been waiting all morning with their children under the shade of a tree. Within minutes the clinic is full. In every room doctors and nurses are checking the blood pressure of pregnant women, recording the weight of young children or giving vaccinations against measles.
Nurse Pascal Tshifende examines two-year-old Muscat. “She has malaria,” he says. “I’ve seen five cases already today. Young children go down with fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. At least she’s not dehydrated. I can treat her with anti-malarial tablets.”
All of the people I speak to at the clinic have a similar story to tell: “I came here from Omdjukan near the border with Chad.” explains Zahara. “One man was killed when our village was attacked, then we all left. It took us three days to get here by donkey.”
Pascal looks concerned as he examines Zahara’s two-year-old boy Hassan. “This child is very sick,” he explains. “He’s severely malnourished and dehydrated. We must get him to the hospital in Nyala.”
By 2pm, it’s time to leave. We must allow at least three hours to get back, and can’t risk being on the road after five. There hasn’t been time to see all the patients, but the team will return within a week.
On the way back to Nyala we pass the ruined settlement at Marla where Merlin once ran a permanent clinic. A year ago it came under heavy attack and the team had to abandon the site along with around 18,000 people. “That was a very difficult time,” explains our guide Youseff, a Darfuri who has worked with Merlin for the past two years. “Look at where we lived, now it’s just rubble.”
At the hospital in Nyala, Hassan is admitted to a special recovery unit, already overcrowded with sick children. I ask about a family I met the day before. Their youngest son was brought in from another of the mobile sites served by Merlin. Without pausing from his duties a doctor tells me they’ve left. “The child had pneumonia, he didn’t make it.”
The news hit me hard and made it clear just how finely balanced the lives of people in this region are. Nik Rilkoff, who heads up Merlin’s project, explained the situation succinctly: “Guns and rockets have shattered so many lives in Darfur, but the living conditions of those made homeless threaten many more. Children are the most at risk, because once they are weakened by poor food, they are so vulnerable to illnesses such as malaria and diarrhoea.”
No one knows when peace will come to this region. What’s clear is that without the presence of Merlin and other aid agencies, children like Hassan and Muscat would have little hope of recovering.
• Four days after being admitted to hospital Hassan was able to return home.