I have my visa!

Got some great news yesterday. My passport arrived safely back from the Sudanese Emassy in London. And I now have my visa! All I need now is a contract to sign from Johanniter. It's been a stressful period trying to get my life organised and having to resign with no guarantee that my visa would be approved. Given that 13 Western aid agencies were expelled from Sudan in March I was never sure that I would get approval. But I'm delighted that I have and that I can start preparing mentally for the tough 6 months ahead.

The situation in Darfur is complex. A famine in the mid-1980s disrupted many societal structures and led to the first significant fighting amongst Darfuris. A low level conflict continued for the next 15 years, with the government coopting and arming "Arab" militias against its enemies. The fighting reached a peak in 2003 with the beginning of the Darfur conflict, in which the resistance coalesced into a roughly cohesive rebel movement. The conflict soon came to be regarded as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. The insurgency and counter insurgency has led to 300,000 deaths, though the numbers are disputed by the Khartoum government. Over 2.5 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict. Many of these refugees have gone into camps where emergency aid has created conditions that, although extremely basic, are better than in the villages, which offer no protection against the various militias that operate in the region. To put these figures into context, imagine 45% of Scotland's population being displaced. When you hear the word displaced, it probably doesn't conjure up in Western minds just how destructive this process is. People have had to flee their homes in terror, families have been broken up, women have been raped and whole villages have been burnt out and the occupants massacred. Imagine almost half of Scotland's population being forced to live in makeshift camps and having to survive day-to-day wondering where their next meal was coming from, having little security and not knowing whether they could ever go home. That's the reality on the ground in Darfur.

Not long before I arrived at Thomas Barnardo House Childrens Home in Nairobi last June, 40 children arrived at the Home as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). An IDP is a refugee in their own country. These children had been forced to flee their homelands with their families as a result of the post-election inter-tribal violence. Many of them had seen family members killed or brutalised by neighbours whom they had previously regarded as friends. During my 4-month secondment I could see the children developing in confidence and beginning to trust people again and therefore I know that the children and families who have been displaced in Darfur can prosper if they are given access to the basic human rights of security, education and primary health care. The work I'll be doing in South Darfur will target the last of those needs. Delivering primary health care services to vulnerable poulations is hugely motivating for me. I realise that the next 6 months are going to be the most challenging I've ever faced but I'm ready to throw myself into this challenge and hopefully help make a small difference to the lives of some very needy people. I will be working for just one of the 72 international NGOS that remain in Darfur, however the expulsion of 13 of the biggest organisations has made the work that Johanniter will be delivering ever more important.