A crisis within a crisis

Garsila, West Darfur- - Rumours of intentions to poison internally displaced persons (IDPs) through water, food and vaccinations led to insecurity and attacks on aid workers in camps in west Darfur at the end of July.

With IDPs already anxious about ongoing insecurity, the peace agreement, rebel fragmentation and tribal tensions, the rumors acted as a spark which lit the fire. Humanitarian organizations were forced to suspend activities in several camps in order to guarantee staff safety. A community center belonging to Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), an ACT-Caritas local partner, an ACT-Caritas temporary shelter for hygiene promotion, and two vehicles from Tearfund were set ablaze, and one driver from Tearfund was killed in an attack in Deleig camp.

The rumours made people highly suspicious of humanitarian water provisions, and without skilled staff in the camps to monitor and ensure a regular supply of clean and safe water, organizations feared that there would be an outbreak of disease in the confined living quarters.

However, as Abubakar Mustafa Abdalla, chairman of Jeddah camp water committee in Garsila, reported, they continued to work through the crisis: "The pumping of water to the bladder went on as usual, and there was no interruption; people continued to draw water."

"When we heard about this rumour," he continued, "I met with the bladder attendant and advised him to be fully responsible for monitoring the bladder and if he noticed anything bad or suspicious, then he would inform the committee immediately."

ACT-Caritas has set up water committees for each water bladder site. The aim is to give beneficiaries the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to manage and take care of their own water sources. The committees empower the community by reducing dependency on outside help, and thus reducing costs, improving efficiency and increasing the project’s sustainability.
"It is our role as a committee to monitor our water bladder daily and report anything that needs the attention of the office," said Hawa Mohammed Abdalla Abdulkarim, a member of the water committee in Jeddah camp.

A bladder attendant is responsible for running the generator to fill the bladder and adding and monitoring chlorine levels. A small team of volunteers is responsible for keeping the site clean, maintaining orderly queues, and ensuring that people use clean containers to collect their water. The latter is a crucial role, given that more than 80 percent of water contamination occurs after its collection at the source.

However, it has not been easy to get people in the camps involved in the committees. In the initial stages of the emergency response in Darfur, the urgency to provide services meant that beneficiaries were never consulted or involved in the planning and implementation of humanitarian services. As a result, a dependent, donor-beneficiary relationship was set up. The IDPs wanted to be paid for their input.

The IDPs were also reluctant to take responsibility for the provision of services as they saw it as a sign of humanitarian organizations leaving. "Since we were displaced, the government has never once come to see us," said one member of the committee. Another member added, "Nobody has helped us but the non-governmental organizations [NGOs], and if the NGOs leave, we will die."

ACT-Caritas worked hard to encourage the communities to become involved. Eventually committees were elected by their communities and the members trained. For the past year the committees have been taking responsibility for their water bladders, from mobilizing their communities to collect local materials and supply labor for fencing and maintenance works to the day-to-day operations.

By continuing to monitor the quality of water and safe hygiene practices during the recent crisis, the water committees kept to a minimum the potential spread of water-borne diseases.

Yet, if insecurity in the camps had been sustained and the suspension prolonged, the situation would have soon become critical. The generator would have eventually run out of fuel, chemical supplies would have been used up, and any mechanical breakdown would have needed a qualified technician and spare parts to be fixed. The water would have simply stopped flowing.

The fundamental issue is money. As one committee member related: "The community itself does not have anything. Before, we had money from our cattle and farming, but we lost all this when our homes and land were attacked by armed militias."

"The need for water in this area is so great. This is the only source of water that we have close to us. We have no other source," declared Zahra Mohammed Adam Bahar. The bladder in Jeddah provides more than 3,000 people with water. Yet, the committee reported that the need for water continues to increase as more people enter the camp.
With no money for essential inputs such as fuel, chlorine and spare parts, the water committees are compromised. Help from humanitarian organizations is as vital as ever.

Action by Churches Together International (ACT) and Caritas Internationalis (CI) are working together in a joint response to the Darfur crisis.
ACT International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations present in 200 countries and territories