A Place for All Generations

by Catherine Dennis - ACT/Caritas

Dereig Camp, South Darfur, Sudan, February 8, 2008 - Under the shade of a straw roof, the space is alive with chatter. Children play outside while women gather in groups to practice newly learned skills that include making pasta and traditional mat weaving. In a place where life is hard, this second community centre has just opened to become a source of strength for the people of Dereig, particularly for the women of the camp.

Khayida, a member of the community centre who fled her home village and arrived in Dereig camp 4 1/2 years ago, spends her days at the centre. The community centres are a place for all generations. "I’m very happy with the opening of the new centre, which has been built for us,” says Khayida. ”We, the old women, are like the trunk of a tree, the others are like the branches. Here, we as old people are allowed to provide the youngsters with knowledge.”

Dereig sits on the outskirts of Nyala along a dusty road to the airport. Over 25,000 people driven from their villages have arrived at the camp, which started with some thirty families seeking refuge from the conflict in 2004.

The popularity of the first community centre, as well as the steady flow of new arrivals, prompted the opening of this second centre last month. The new facility, just as the first, was built and continues to be supported by Sudanaid, one of three key implementers of the ACT-Caritas Darfur emergency programme.

Gabriel Yai, Sudanaid’s Psychosocial, Peacebuilding and Protection Officer, says, “Sudanaid has been working with the people of Dereig camp since the beginning of the crisis.”

Sheik Saleh Hussein Ahmed, a local community leader, said at the opening of the new centre, “I am happy, really my feelings are running high. My daughters and sons, too, will gain from this centre.”

Even before the new centre opened, women rushed to enroll, and close to 300 women, youth and children are expected to sign up in the coming months. Mr. Yai says attendance levels have been high: “These women realize that many people benefited from the old centre, so they want to take this opportunity to gain new skills.”

Next door to all the chatter, in another hut, the only sound is the hum of sewing machines, where a group of women concentrate intently on learning basic tailoring.

With the addition of the second community centre, more women will be able to benefit from adult literacy classes, group and individual counseling sessions, as well as workshops raising awareness in human rights, peacebuilding, gender-based violence and conflict resolution.

The centres are also vital meeting places where women have space (a precious commodity in camps such as Dereig) to meet, to share, talk and laugh. Men also gather here at certain times as members of peace committees or to take part in building stoves or weaving traditional baskets.

In the camp, opportunities to make a living are scarce, but Khayida and the other women can sell the items they make at the community centre on the thriving local market, which helps them provide food for their families and clothes for their children.

Some women have saved enough to buy their own sewing machines and are now working on their own to make goods to sell at the market. Meanwhile, women who do not have their own machines are able to continue to use the equipment at the facility.

Many women think of the skills they have learned here as a blessing. Khayida says “I hope we will practice these same skills when it is time to return to our homes.” And, every month a new group of women graduate, receiving certificates in handicrafts such as cutting and design.

While Dereig residents may look forward with hope to returning to their villages, for now the growing numbers of displaced families arriving puts pressure both on the facilities of the camp and on relationships with permanent residents of the area. Workshops in conflict resolution are helping to bridge the gap between the displaced of Dereig and their neighbors, as are youth and womens’ peace groups.

Another woman, Amina, who fled with her family from her home village, started attending classes at the centre three years ago. She is now passing on her own skills to new arrivals at the centre. Looking back over these years, Amina says, “Much has changed and I now thank God that I have learned all these things.”