Shortly after our flight had landed in Adré, Chad, on the border with Sudan, we were driving along sand and clay roads toward the spontaneous settlements where a whole lot of 1000’s of Sudanese refugees reside. Within seconds we began seeing dead animal carcasses along the road, the results of the oppressive heat — around 110 degrees — and the dearth of water and food. I watched as several women selected a plot of sand, dug 4 sticks into the bottom and hung scarves across them — their only shelter.
I kept pondering, “This place is filled with all of the belongings you would wish to run away from, and yet individuals are running toward it.”
The reason so many are eager to get to this spot isn’t any mystery: A yr ago, a civil conflict in Sudan erupted into large-scale violence. But the refugees, nearly all of them women and kids, spoke to us about their desperation to get to this place where nobody should need to live, in stories no mother or child should need to tell.
They told of the phobia of beatings, gunfire and explosions; of escaping violence within the night, often with the agony of leaving family members behind, not knowing in the event that they would live or die.
Millions of families are trapped here in limbo in what has turn into the biggest displacement crisis on the planet, which in turn is fueling what threatens to turn into the world’s largest hunger crisis. A major percentage of the population is already experiencing severe food shortages, and the rates of kid malnutrition keep climbing. The result is almost 25 million people — corresponding to the population of Florida — needing urgent aid.
The details of this crisis are horrifying. The scale is immense. And yet most Americans know little to nothing about it. This humanitarian disaster continues to grow almost entirely outside the media highlight. As latest emergencies understandably draw our attention, the kids of Sudan are forgotten.
World Vision’s founder, Bob Pierce, was known for his prayer, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the guts of God.”
This has at all times been a dangerous prayer. Every day, the headlines are stuffed with humanitarian suffering resulting from war, disasters and extreme poverty. Some crises, just like the one in Sudan, often don’t even make the headlines. But the lack of knowledge about Sudan’s escalating crisis has turn into one among its gravest threats.
No one wants to disregard the suffering of youngsters. Whenever I talk with friends, telling them in regards to the kids who’re barely surviving on the planet’s hardest places, they’re moved and wanting to pray and help. I think God has wired us to look after these precious little ones. And after we act, lives are modified, even saved.
It’s time that we get the word out in regards to the situation in Sudan. Seeing some children already with ribs protruding, hair turning orange or yellow — telltale signs of malnutrition — I do know the clock is ticking. The rainy season, also often known as the lean season, is starting now. A time when food becomes even less accessible in each Chad and Sudan. A time when heavy rains will wash into temporary camps, worsening the poor sanitation and threatening to destroy shelters made only of sticks and tattered cloth.
This place to which a whole lot of 1000’s have been forced to run will only turn into tougher, even deadly, for already vulnerable people. I’m sure God’s heart is broken for these forgotten children. I do know mine is.
We must also let people know that, even in among the most difficult living conditions I’ve ever witnessed, there’s hope.
On my last day in Chad, I met 13-year-old Isra, one among the tens of 1000’s of refugee children World Vision is supporting through school feeding programs. Children can come to highschool and receive not only an education, but a large plate of beans and rice — an entire amount of nutrition for the day.
In the midst of a lot suffering, the sound of youngsters laughing, singing and learning was like an oasis. Isra told me about her dream to turn into a pilot. Every day she watches the United Nations planes coming in and dreams of flying to the places she’s seen only in videos — peaceful places with beautiful houses, buildings and trees.
I pray that Isra will get to comprehend her dream someday. But for that to occur, the world must turn its attention to the kids of Sudan and take motion to bring help and lasting peace.
Edgar Sandoval Sr. is president and CEO of World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide.
© Religion News Service
