Darfur Update

You asked me if there was some way a person could make a donation that would help the situation in Darfur. I've thought a lot about this question for the last couple of weeks. The situation here is very grave but not for the lack of money. It's grave because of the "insecurity." More and more of the population is cut off from supplies and help. Humanitarian workers have pulled back from insecure and dangerous places leaving the population in the lurch. Much of the population (it is said 500,000 people) didn't receive any assistance in the first place, but now many more are left helpless.

As you know from the press, the big issue is who will keep the peace in Darfur. The African Union peacekeeping mandate has run out and the U.N. is billed to take it over, but the government is resisting the idea. The government is actually amassing a large force here. This instability makes humanitarian organizations VERY jittery. If they are forced to go or decide to leave because it is too dangerous then (an even more) massive tragedy will occur.

We have managed to visit only two camps. These are close-in places that have secure access. The people here look pretty good. They have nice clothes and shoes. Their teeth, for the most part, are in pretty good condition. They don't look like they are starving. They have clean water to drink and medical care and medicine. And the kids go to school. (A far sight better than what you see in Uganda.)

The camps that you can't visit are the camps that I fear to see. But since you can't see them there is nothing you can do. So the answer is that first there must be "security." It's not for the lack of humanitarian supplies, or money, or will, at the moment (although we have no electricity, my cell phone is broken, and the town is out of gasoline).

Last night we had the mother of all thunder and lightening storms. It must have been a bad night for IDP'S. In the morning I found almost three inches of water in a pot left outside and we are supposed to have our first stove training today. Twenty five women are expected to come. Yesterday sixty-five men came for the sneak preview. What a surprise for us, no women. The men approved of our ideas and so today the women will come, but I wonder if we will have to postpone our training even if this rain does stop.

All in all the rain must be good. The ancient economy of this place depends on herding. I didn't understand why we saw so many hundreds of sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, and camels between El Fasher and Zam Zam camp, but they have been brought here from the hinterlands to the El Fasher livestock market. This is the lush time of the year when the El Fasher area can support this surge of livestock. Once sold, they will be herded across the desert to Lybia or Egypt, a trip taking as much as forty days. El Fasher sits on a rise in the topography and I wonder if this rise makes it rain more here or at least makes it more prone to these violent thunderstorms.

This rise in topography here in El Fasher is reminiscent of a geosyncline. Now I don't know anything about the geology of Sudan but I know in our country a lot of people got rich drilling holes in synclines. I wonder if the tribes here are playing "King on the syncline" as well as "King on the mountain." Last year, there were two groups shooting it out. When we arrived last month there were nine groups shooting it out, and now there are eleven groups that belong to the National Rifle Association. No one knows what will happen, or not happen, or when it will happen or not happen, and this uncertainty adds to the insecurity.

I will be leaving here in a few days. My thirty-day visa is coming to an end. If it wasn't ending and if I weren't leaving anyway, I would now be asked to leave. Each humanitarian organization will only be allowed to have two foreigners in El Fasher at a time, in case evacuation becomes necessary. That is the allotted space for foreign workers in the UN contingency evacuation plans.

VJ is now a trained and competent Rocket Stove promoter and he will stay here in El Fasher. His visa is extended and he will continue the stove project, starting here in North Darfur. I'm prejudiced but there doesn't seem to be a greater need in the camps right now than for fuel efficient stoves. And I am very glad to have been able to contribute to this effort. Best wishes to VJ and his work.

And best wishes to all of you,
Ken