Assan
Yaya looks older than his 40 years. His hair is grey, his face
lined. Formerly an engineer working for a government department
in Sudan, he now lives in Bredjing refugee camp, home to some
29,500 people who have fled from conflict in the Sudanese province
of Darfur.
Assan has more reason than most to feel miserable. Ten years
ago he fell ill with a fever and a stomach ache. Afterwards,
his joints started to stiffen up. Rheumatism, he says. Today
he is nearly paralyzed. He can barely move his head. Someone
has to lift his thin frame into a sitting position on his bed,
which is a pad of blankets folded on the ground.
He shares a tent with his six-year-old daughter and his brother’s
family. “When my condition deteriorated, I let my wife
go. She is married to another man now,” says Assan in
English.
In spite of his troubles, Assan’s face lights up when
he gets a visit from 12 fellow refugees being trained by the
Red Cross to do home visits and care for people who are chronically
ill, have a disability, are elderly or orphaned.
It will be their responsibility to visit extremely vulnerable
people every day, and others a few times a week, in the Red
Cross-managed camps of Bredjing and Tréguine, home to
a total of 44,000 people. In return for about (CFA 25,000) USD50
a month, the social assistants will spend time with people and
if necessary, cook for them, clean their homes and clothes,
help them bathe and take them to medical care.
“I am very happy to see you. This is the first time that
someone has come to me like this,” says Assan, smiling,
to International Federation social welfare delegate Annette
Molle-Kouoh, who introduces him to his new caregiver, Zainab
Malik
“The caregiver will come and see if there is something
we can do for you and to take care of you,” explains Annette.
“We will ask if there is anything you need. The caregiver
is at your disposal.”
“Everyday she will come to you and ask if she can do anything
for you. If you want to go to the hospital, she is there to
arrange it. If you need something, just ask us.”
The trainees, many of whom already make home visits to people
in need, have just completed a short course given in the community
centre of Bredjing camp by Annette, who encourages them to smile
and liven up the days of the people they visit.
“There are some people who are alone and never talk to
anyone. When you visit them, you have to talk to them because
it might be the only chance they have,” Annette tells
her students, 11 women and one man.
“You can also bring other old people together to give
them a chance to meet and talk. Or you can bring their grandchildren
to them – they love to have visitors.”
Through an interpreter, a woman asks, “what if we don’t
know the person we are caring for? Do we have to be friendly?”
“Yes,” says Annette. “It’s your job,
even if you don’t know them.”
Fatimé Adouma, a Red Cross social assistant from the
town of Adré, has already started visiting especially
vulnerable people.
“We want to help them. These women suffer without their
husbands. Sometimes people get sick and die – who will
look after their children? We can give them food and clothes
and other things they need.”
In another part of Bredjing camp, Mariam Ahmat Idriss, 35, is
bringing up five children on her own. Eleven months ago their
village in Darfur was attacked. Mariam lost her husband, her
brother, and her brother’s two sons, aged 15 and 16. Now
they are just scraping by, without any help from their neighbours.
The donkey that carried the family to safety in Chad died of
starvation soon after the family arrived because there is almost
nothing for animals to eat in the camp.
Sitting under a shelter at her home, her tidy vegetable patch
nearby, Mariam tells her caregiver, Fatimé, that she
is very keen to work to supplement the rations she is given.
“I would like to ask God to give us work for the future
so I can stay with my children. I don’t know what kind
of work. In Sudan we had farms. Here, I don’t know what
kind of work I can do.”
Although she herself is at risk, Mariam asks Fatimé if
there might be another job like hers, helping people cope with
their new circumstances in the camp. Fatimé promises
to talk to her supervisor about Mariam’s chances of joining
the team.
The 68 trained social assistants will be extremely thinly stretched
over a population of 29,500 at Bredjing camp and 14,500 at Tréguine
camp 6km away.
A survey found that more than 1,000 households in Tréguine
camp needed some help. Among them are 109 older people living
alone, 30 people with chronic illnesses, 82 people with physical
disabilities, 682 families headed by a sole parent, usually
a woman, 79 children separated from their families, and 31 women
living on their own.
The proportion of vulnerable households is similar at Bredjing
camp, where there are twice as many people.
But Red Cross workers hope to train more social assistants to
work in their own communities. And in future, Annette hopes
that people who cannot cook for themselves and have no family
will be able to eat hot meals prepared at a restaurant the Red
Cross is building in Bredjing. It will be staffed by vulnerable
refugees learning cooking and business skills.
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Refugees
trained to be caregivers visit the home of Assan Yaya,
40, who is nearly paralysed. Zainab Malik, right in red
dress, will visit him daily (p12934)
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Mariam
Ahmat Idriss fled to Chad with her with her five children
after her husband was killed in Darfur (p12936)
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Mariam
says she is desperate for work so she can buy fresh meat
and vegetables, clothes and other things for her family
(p12935)
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In
Bredjing camp, community representative Fatna Mahamat
Déyé (left), discusses residents’
needs with Fatimé Adouma, Chad Red Cross social
assistant (p12936)
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