Being a Child in a Refugee Camp: “We Too Have Dreams and Talents”
Medecins Sans Frontieres has been running an emergency response in Eastern Chad for a year to address the medical and humanitarian needs of refugees who fled Sudan after the outbreak of war. Since the conflict began in April 2023 till June this year, over 600,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Chad as per the UN data.
As part of our agile response to this displacement, we are providing pediatric support at our clinics in Adré transit camp and Aboutengué camp, offering essential health services for children. Since the beginning of this year till July, we have conducted approximately 43,709 pediatric consultations for children under five years old in these clinics.
In the following testimonies, we share the voices of Sudanese children, aged 7 to 12 years old, as they speak about their life in the camp: their talents, hobbies, needs as children, and their future wishes.
Rayan – 7 years old
Rayan’s from Ardamatta, North-East of El-Geneina. She arrived in East Chad one year ago.
“Life is okay here. At least here, we don’t hear gunshots. I like to do pottery, making little pots, cups, teapots, and “mabakhar” (Arabic word for censers used to burn fragrant herbs to perfume the room). I make everything with mud I find in the camp after the rain and let dry in the sun.
I play tea party with other children. Back in Sudan, my favorite moment at school was at the end of the class when they gave us a toy tea set to play with. But since I’m not going to school anymore, I made one on my own so I can keep playing.
My mom came here first with my five sisters and me to set us up in the camp and then went back to Ardamata to find my dad and bring him here on a cart. When people asked me if I would like to go back home, I say, “No”. I’m fine here.”
Mushtaha – 10 years old
“I have four sisters and one brother. My little sister was even born in Adré’s hospital, five months ago. We all live together with our dad and mom. My mother has a little shop in front our shelter where she sells sweets. Life was different before we came here. We lived in El-Geneina, and now we’ve been in these shelters for nine months. Life is hard in the camp.
Here, there’s no electricity, so no watching TV… I loved watching MBC3, a channel for children. I miss sitting on chairs; we have none here, we always sit on the floor.
We are at the middle of the desert, so there are no trees to play under neither. My parents built a shelter with a metal roof to sleep under, and that’s where we stay and where we play… When fled from El-Geneina, we brought some toys with us: a few dolls and the Talking Tom cat. But Tom, the toy, doesn’t talk anymore because he has no more batteries.
In El-Geneina, I used to go to school. But here, there is no school. Why are there no schools here? I want to be a doctor, and why not work with MSF. But how and I am out of school?
Mazim – 12 Years old
“I am from El-Geneina. I am the oldest of six siblings, with two sisters and three brothers. I have been here for more than a year and also share the shelter with two of my cousins. My aunt, my mom’s sister, went back to Sudan a few weeks ago to try to find her husband, who has been missing for months.
Life here is okay. My days consist of playing football, praying, and playing football again. When playing football, I always have the same position: wing-back. My favorite team is Real Madrid. Look! I have their logo on my sweatpants. And my favorite player remains Cristiano Ronaldo, even though he’s not playing there anymore.
My brother, he’s for Barcelona, he wears their jersey all the time. This is how we play all the time: Madrid against Barcelona.
At first, we had a ball, but it has worn out over time. So, we stuffed a sock with plastic and play with that now.
There is a football pitch nearby the camp, that’s where we play, always the same 24 kids, enough to assemble two teams. I met some of them in the camp but knew others from El-Geneina already.
Often, neighbors who fled are in contact during the journey from Sudan, so those who arrive first wait at the border to welcome the new arrivals and take them to their block so they can settle there. In that way, we recreate our former neighborhood in the camp and stay surrounded by the ones we know.
Sometimes, I also go around the camp to pick up wood for my mother to cook with. I also have to do some work to support my family. I am a part-time cobbler. I go to the market several times a week to polish shoes and repair others as I learned to sew. The food given by humanitarian organizations is not enough, so I buy a little of vegetables and even meat as these is not provided by the aid.
In the future, I would like to be a doctor, to help and heal people—”all the people.”