Graduation at Djabal Refugee Camp, Chad
Darfur is essentially the western third of the nation of Sudan; it runs along much of Sudan’s western border with Chad. From 2003 to 2015, over 400,000 Sudanese have fled danger in Sudan and have crossed that border.
These photographs are of a graduation ceremony at Djabal Refugee Camp in eastern Chad, sent in by a friend of ours who lives there. The students have earned certificates of achievement for completing classes on the Massalit language. Many Darfuris are illiterate in even their own tribal language. So many Zaghawa, Fur, Massalit and other tribes consider teaching their children to read and write in their tribe’s language to be essential.
Assembly meeting at a food distribution point at Djabal Refuee Camp
The refugee camps for Darfuris in Chad have had their World Food Program rations cut far below the minimum adequate daily intake of 2100 kilocalories per person which the WFP ordinarily tries to meet. On July 1, 2014, the agency announced that, due to lack of funding, daily allotments to refugees would be cut 60% to 850 kilocalories per day ( https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-refugees-in-eastern-chad-close-to-starving ). And these cuts have continued as of mid-2015 ( http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ep/wfp270015.pdf ).
Women sit along the fringes of a meeting in Djabal, Chad.
Harsh agricultural conditions occur throughout the Sahel region (between the Sahara Desert to the north and the more fertile land to the south) of which this nation is a part. Most of Chad’s population of about 11 million live below the poverty line and have long suffered food insecurity due to climate shocks, irregular rainfall, drought, insecurity and pests to such an extent that the World Food Program has been there since 1968. Over three million Chadians need humanitarian assistance, and 790,000 need emergency food assistance ( http://www.wfp.org/countries/chad ).
This country is now home to 750,000 refugees displaced by conflict in Sudan, Nigeria and the Central African Republic. The government has allowed some refugees to farm small plots in the southern part of the country, but this is not possible in the semi-desert land of the eastern part of the country ( https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-refugees-in-eastern-chad-close-to-starving ).
The room shown in the pictures above and below is also where residents receive food rations (in the rooms in the back). You can see this in another picture of Djabal residents waiting for rations on the Chad WFP page for Sudanese refugees: http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-continues-support-sudanese-refugees-chad
For the latest updates on WFP work in Chad, see: http://www.wfp.org/news/chad-111