Sudan: People abandoned amidst horrific violence and humanitarian void in Central Darfur

Across the street from the fire station, Najwa and her three children have taken shelter in the city’s looted bank with 30 other displaced people from Hasahisa camp. She’s created an illusion of home there: bank safes used as closets, bricked-up windows, once meant for sunlight, and windowsills now holding a few tattered bags and wilted plants.

“We are living in these conditions without a roof, and we have no food,” says Najwa, pointing at the torn sheets draped above the lobby. “But we’ve never received any assistance, not even a bar of soap. Soon the rainy season will come, and we don’t know where to go.”

Cut off from access to healthcare and medicine

In the heart of the city, the University of Zalingei — once a centre for students of medicine, agriculture and technology — now lies desolate. Bales of hay for donkeys are stored in the auditorium, while campus buildings are connected by laundry clotheslines.

Transformed into a makeshift shelter, more than a thousand people are living in the school´s classrooms and offices, mostly displaced from Hasahisa camp. Mainly farmers, they are now unable to regularly cultivate crops and make an income. The community relies on each other because of the absence of humanitarian assistance.

“We all make contributions and anyone participating can share [medication],” says Mohammed, one of the first to flee to the university. “We share with the community and treat the patients.”