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In a refugee camp in Chad, Sudanese women are running out of hope

A spontaneous settlement in Adré, a Chadian border town, has become a makeshift home for more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees.

Someya was a henna artist in Western Darfur. After her father was killed in a mosque, she crossed the border to Chad on foot with her three small children. She was pregnant at the time.
Someya was a henna artist in Western Darfur, after her father was killed in a mosque, she crossed the border to Chad on foot with her three small children [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
By Alyona Synenko
Published On 15 Dec 2023

Adré, Chad — Squatting on the sandy ground, a young girl is weaving grass stems into a roof. The tiny hut she is making is surrounded by tens of thousands of others like it, made hastily of sticks and leaves covered with tarps or plastic sacks.

This spontaneous settlement in Adré, a Chadian border town of 12,000 inhabitants, has become a makeshift home to more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees. Almost 90 percent are women and children who crossed the border on foot, fleeing brutal violence that submerged their native Darfur soon after the conflict broke out in Sudan on April 15.

Kaltuma, a small woman with deep wrinkles and cloudy cataract eyes, had to summon all her strength to build her hut. She shares it with her two granddaughters, aged three and five. Kaltuma’s daughter took her two other children and left in search of daily work in the agricultural fields out of town. Every morning, Kaltuma tours Adré’s neighbourhoods, knocking on doors and asking people for food. Whatever she collects on a given day, she uses it to prepare a meal for herself and her granddaughters.

The residents of Adré have welcomed refugees, but Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world, and resources are scarce. “The number of people who arrived here with nothing is more than tenfold the size of the local population. Imagine something like this happening in a European town,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who visited Eastern Chad to raise awareness around the stark shortage of humanitarian funding for this crisis.

Following the sharp increase in the population, food prices skyrocketed, and essential services like water and healthcare, which were in short supply even before the influx of refugees, came under enormous stress.

Someya, another refugee, was pregnant when she fled her village in Western Darfur with her children. “They killed my father in the mosque after the evening prayer,” she says, rocking her baby in the shadow of a tarp stretched overhead. “When I heard what happened, I ran to the mosque. He died in my arms. My husband always away for work, he was like a father to my children.”

When Someya and the children arrived in Adré, having walked for hours, she collapsed on the ground and was sick for several days from fear and exhaustion. A month later, she gave birth to a baby girl under the tarps and shortly after had to look for work to feed her four children.

“I tried working at a construction site, but it was physically hard, and they wouldn’t let me breastfeed the baby,” Someya says. “Now, I do laundry in people’s houses. They don’t mind me coming with the baby.”  She goes to work early in the morning and buys food for the day with her wages.

A henna artist, Someya says the family had a good life and enough food back in Darfur. The reality of the camp is different, and at one point, the new mother lost milk because she was not eating enough.

While Someya is at work, her kids fetch water – a long, tedious task in a place that had known water scarcity long before its population exploded. A long line of jerrycans and plastic buckets stretches out at five in the morning. “I leave my jerrycan in line, then check on it every couple of hours so as not to miss my turn,” said Zuhal, Someya’s 17-year-old neighbour in the camp.

The routine of everyday survival offers an escape from memories of the horrors of the past and questions about the future. Back home in the Sudanese town of el-Geneina, Zuhal shared her time between school and helping her mother at their farm. Until she was forced to flee in search of safety. “We came here in the middle of the night without shoes. On the way, I saw people killed,” Zuhal said.

The teenager hoped to move with her uncle, who lives in Gadarif, in eastern Sudan, and has been using Red Cross phone service to reach him, but her calls have not gone through.

Most women in the camp shrug their shoulders when asked what they hope for.

“I don’t know what I want to do,” Someya says. “Life in the camp is tough, but I have nothing to return to. My house burned down.  I lost everything I owned. Even if I could return, I would have to start life from scratch. It is not easy.”

Kaltuma lives alone with her small granddaughters. The family survives on food given to them by neighbors and local people.
Kaltuma lives alone with her small granddaughters. The family survives on food given to them by neighbours and local people. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Water is the most precious resource in this arid region. The rapid growth of the population put an enormous pressure on the essential services.
Water is the most precious resource in this arid region and the rapid growth of the population since the arrival of refugees has put enormous pressure on essential services. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
90% of the refugees are women and children. Many arrived with nothing and live in precarious shelters that offer little protection against the heat and the rain.
Approximately 90 percent of the refugees are women and children and many arrived with nothing and live in precarious shelters that offer little protection against the heat and the rain. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Estimated 500,000 Sudanese refugees came to Eastern Chad since the conflict in Sudan broke out on April 15. Around 200,000 of them live in the border town of Adré, the number of people more than ten times bigger than its original population.
An estimated 500,000 Sudanese refugees have come to Eastern Chad since the conflict in Sudan broke out on April 15.with about 200,000 of them living in the border town of Adré, the number of people more than 10 times bigger than its original population. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
To feed her children Somaya wakes up every morning and goes into town to look for odd jobs, doing laundry and cleaning houses.
To feed her children, Someya wakes up every morning and goes into town to look for odd jobs, doing laundry and cleaning houses. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Somaya doesn’t know what the future holds for her and her family. Even if they could return to their village, their house burnt down, and they lost everything they owned.
Someya doesn’t know what the future holds for her and her family; even if they could return to their village, they would have no place to live — their house was burnt down, and they lost everything they owned. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
To survive Sudanese women refugees often work at construction sites or doing other jobs, that were traditionally reserved to men.
To survive Sudanese women refugees often work at construction sites or doing other jobs that were traditionally reserved to men. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Following the rapid growth of the population, food prices skyrocketed. The prices of things like bread or watermelons have tripled in just a few months, affecting the refugees and the host community.
Following the rapid growth of the population, food prices skyrocketed with the prices of basics like bread or watermelons tripling in just a few months, affecting the refugees and the host community. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Zuhal is 17. Born and raised in the Sudanese town of Al Geneina she was a student and helped her mother work at their farm.
Zuhal, 17, was born and in the Sudanese town of el-Geneina, where she was a student and helped her mother work at their farm. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
When the violence broke out in Darfur Zuhal and Nafisa, her mother, fled their home at night with a crowd of other people. They got separated on the way and found each other after they arrived in the camp. “I saw people whose throats were cut. I will never forget it,” says Nafisa.
When the violence broke out in Darfur, Zuhal and her mother, Nafisa, fled their home at night with a crowd of other people, becoming separated on the way and found each other after they arrived in the camp. “I saw people whose throats were cut. I will never forget it,” says Nafisa. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]
Zuhal is handing a piece of paper with her uncle’s phone number to a Red Cross volunteer. She uses Red Cross phone service to reach her uncle who lives in Gedaref, Eastern Sudan. She hopes to go live with him, but her phone calls have not gone through.
Zuhal has a paper with the phone number for her uncle, with whom she hopes to live in Gedaref, Eastern Sudan, but her calls, made with the Red Cross's phone service, have not gone through. [Alyona Synenko/ICRC]