Telling the ECSA Story

A refugee who recently arrived in Adre, Ouaddai province, interviews conducted by CARE staff and meetings with community leaders. CARE N'Djamena, Chad 25 May 2023 - With the conflict in Sudan in its fifth week, CARE is deeply concerned about the impact the violence has had on hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people, especially women, and children, forced to flee their homes amid the violence. This includes over 90,000 refugees , who according to UNHCR and the Government of Chad, have fled to Chad to save their lives. Dr. Amadou Bocoum, CARE Chad Country Director said: “Alongside our partners, we have noted that 90% of the refugees crossing over daily are women and children. By the time they arrive, they have endured extreme hardship not only from their journey but also from the situation they left at home. Many arrive hungry, thirsty, and in need of immediate medical attention and other basic necessities. We are working alongside other humanitarian actors to support those c...

A woman refugee with her child who recently arrived in Adre, Ouaddai province. CARE   N’Djamena, Chad 28 th April 2023 - Over the last several days in Chad, community leaders in the Sudan-Chad border region have told CARE that the region has received more than 42,000 refugees. This number is expected to grow in the coming days as the conflict in Sudan continues. The refugees are arriving in the villages bordering Chad, some with a few essential items of luggage and others not at all because of the pressure and stress. They settle in the open area or in huts made with millet stalks. Most of those arriving at the border are women and children.   Soumaiya*, a divorced woman with eight children to support arrived in Chad on 20 th April 2023. "When the conflict reached my hometown, the civilians were left vulnerable. As a result, many preferred to leave the village. My family and I left the village at one o'clock in the morning to cross over to the Chadian side.  We made ...

  Some of the refugees who have recently arrived in Adre, Ouaddai province, with the CARE staff and meetings with community leaders. CARE Statement from Kate Maina-Vorley, CARE Regional Director for Eastern and Central Africa, on the ongoing conflict in Sudan:  “The current ceasefire comes as a welcome reprieve for Sudanese citizens, and we urge all parties in this tragic conflict to maintain a much-needed peace. CARE teams in Chad are already working closely with our partners to respond to the incoming Sudanese refugees, the majority of whom are women and children. In Sudan, we have relocated our staff to safe places, and thankfully all are safe and accounted for. We remain committed to supporting Sudan at this terrible time, and with a severe increase in cases of violence against women, alongside access to reproductive healthcare being severely compromised, we are working alongside our humanitarian partners to support access to midwives and psychosocial support to Sudan...

Zainab collecting twigs to build a temporary shack. David Mutua/CARE At the edge of Dagahaley Refugee Camp located in Northeastern Kenya, 24-year-old Zainab Isak is busy building her temporary shack by tying together twigs with pieces of cloth and poles stuck to the ground. Dagahaley is already at full capacity, so all those arriving have to set up their structures outside the camp. Since she arrived from her home in Saakow Somalia, Zainab has been living in other people's structures. Her husband died in June 2022 due to sickness in Baidoa, leaving Zainab to become the breadwinner of her family comprised of her three children, her mother, and her father. As the conditions worsened, Zainab had no option but to leave her home “As a farmer, the lack of rain and drought made life unbearable. There was nothing to eat and all we had was finished. That is why we came here,” Zainab said. As she continues to build, Zainab does not know where her next meal will come from, because she still d...

Marial and his with the CARE Medical Team 58-year-old Luba Marial was brought to Pariang hospital, in northern South Sudan sweating and with a fever, by family members after suffering years of pain, without apparent diagnosis. Little did he know at the time that he was in a life-or-death situation.   “It started 3 years ago as pain in the kidney.” he says, “I visited the hospital several times, but I didn’t get a cure. I was refereed from Hakima health Centre to Pariang with severe pain, I couldn’t eat nor drink, life was hard for me.”   Upon admission in Pariang referral hospital, Marial was found to have a severe tissue infection with intestinal obstruction that required urgent surgery. Marial’s condition is a rare but severe type of bacterial infection which can destroy the muscles, skin and underlying tissue and is very difficult to treat. It is a highly fatal condition with mortality rates of 30% and above. Most Patients present with septic shock and septicemia...

Foibe sorts beans before cooking Twenty-seven year-old Foibe Valetti left the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2017 due to the ravaging war. Devastated by the death of her elder brother and his wife, she was suddenly burdened with the big responsibility to take care of five children inclusive of her brother’s son. They packed and resettled in Kavule   village, Kyangwali Refugee settlement where Foibe became fully dependent on food distributed by aid agencies and firewood from the forest reserves. Unable to afford charcoal, Foibe like other women, would walk 5-10 kilometers to fetch firewood from Bugoma forest once a week as allocated by authorities. According to her, the amount collected is never enough to complete an entire week forcing her to buy charcoal which is expensive. “I got to know about the Community Solar Kitchens through a friend in May this year. She told me CARE had constructed stoves that use the sun and not charcoal meant for the refugees. When I went to s...

Eleven-year-old Fatumo stays in Ainabo IDP camp in the Sool region of Somalia. Fatumo lost three years of school. The 2017 drought destroyed all her family’s livestock and left them not able to pay for her education. The family was forced to flee and settled at the camp in March 2017. Unfortunately for Fatumo, her joy to start school was delayed again as for 2 and a half years, the camp had no learning center. Her family could not afford to enroll her in the community school in the town, neither could they afford to buy her the essential learning materials needed for her education. Ainabo IDP Camp was established in 2017 as a result of the huge influx of IDPs due to droughts and conflicts in the Sool region. CARE with funding from ECHO, has established two learning centers through the construction of eight temporary classrooms and also provided teaching and learning materials, female hygiene kits, desks and supported six teachers with incentives and training.   The two learning...

For months, refugee women in Uganda had been asking humanitarian actors to move food distribution points closer to where women lived. The women were tired of walking 10 kilometers to get to food and 10 km home, often getting attacked along the way. But the months rolled by, and nothing happened. So women took charge. The Yoleta Women’s Group organized a sit-down strike at the food distribution point, boycotting food distribution. They got men who support women’s rights to write a memo to UNHCR explaining why they were on strike. Now, UNHCR, WFP, and others deliver food directly to communities, and women don’t have to walk. Better yet, everyone in the community sees women as leaders who get things done and gets them involved in humanitarian decisions. Women Lead in Emergencies  is a small pilot inside a Global Affairs Canada project supporting South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda from 2018-2020.  It worked with 5 local women’s groups to help them build the networks and confid...