by Stefanie Franke

22 August 2008

Khartoum, Sudan: "Whoever drinks from the Nile will always return." This is a local saying I heard on many occasions, most of those being farewells. It sounded as if the Sudanese were sure that, one day, everyone must come back. Only a couple of weeks after returning from Sudan, I think that they were right.

The country and its people definitely have something magical. Looking beyond the heat and dust of Khartoum, one can see a lot of beauty: the endlessness of the desert; the red colour of the sand competing with the deep blue of the skies; the colours of the blossoming trees during the rainy season; the hospitality of each and every Sudanese, no matter how poor.

But decades of war, genocide and tribal conflicts have forced generations of families into displacement. Even after having fled, people are faced with extreme poverty and hunger, they are discriminated against for their colour, sex or religion. Too many people have suffered. And they still do.

People living in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps distributed all over Sudan face a harsh reality of poverty and discrimination, alcoholism, drug abuse and unemployment. They are not fully accepted, and have to live under the constant fear of police raids, plundering or relocation.

In late April 2007 I first visited one of the camps close to Khartoum. I had just started my assignment as a UNV volunteer with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Return, Reintegration and Recovery (RRR) unit. I was seconded, however, to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) where I worked with the Sudan Information Campaign for Returnees (SICR).

That day I joined representatives from the UN, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Government of South Sudan and the Government of National Unity, and went to inform the local community about upcoming convoys under the organized return.

Even though they are returning to their homelands, many returnees face cultural problems and therefore need a lot of different information. Those coming from Khartoum's IDP camps are used to a multiethnic environment and find it difficult to integrate into the often very closed rural communities. Many have adopted the dress code, customs and behaviours of the North. They are regarded with scepticism. And with the growing number of people returning, tensions and clashes over land and resources have started in some regions, leaving the newcomers with the weakest entitlements.

However, despite the many difficulties returnees face, they also bring along great potential, which can contribute to the development of their regions. They have different skills: many are proficient in construction, they have attended school and some even university, they might have lived and worked in a foreign country.

Besides, many came from the camps in Khartoum where Southerners from different states and tribes have managed to live together peacefully.  It is certain, though, that all returnees need a lot of support upon their arrival in the South to help them overcome difficulties and use their potential.

By providing information to all, false expectations can be avoided. People can prepare for their journey and their arrival. On the other hand, those who decide to stay in the camps are also supported with information, especially on health and hygiene issues.

The aim of the Information Campaign is to ensure that all IDPs - elders and chiefs, women, men, children and youth - are able to take informed decisions. Doing so, it reaches out to the most vulnerable. During meetings with the communities, we noticed that women often kept quiet as expected from them by custom. Very few received enough information to have a say in the decisions their husbands and fathers took.

So we emphasized the need to give women the opportunity to express their ideas and views. We organized frequent dialogues with the women and girls and noticed a growing number of women who felt comfortable enough to ask for help in convincing their communities and husbands to let them have a word in the decision taking. I remember chiefs' briefings where women attended and, against their customs, stood up and raised their voices.

The most challenging, but also most remarkable, characteristic of the Information Campaign is its comprehensive approach. It successfully unites information efforts from the UN, IOM and NGOs while cooperating closely with the two governments in North and South Sudan. It works directly with national media, specifically the radio. It also approaches the communities directly through dialogue and film sessions, focus group discussions or radio listening groups.

Furthermore, UNICEF directly works with national NGOs as implementing partners in the IDP camps around Khartoum. Each of the NGOs is supported by a number of volunteers, most of which come directly from the community.

The Information Campaign keeps in very close contact with the community. We sat with the women and children, the men and the chiefs, who often shared their very personal stories with us and even nicknamed us after sacred animals. We heard of cases where the head of the family travelled to the state of origin of his family, such as Southern Kordofan or Upper Nile, trying to prepare the ground for his family to follow. Some did not make it and returned to Khartoum, unable to overcome the obstacles.

I finished my assignment in April 2008, after volunteering with the information campaign for one year. Being back in my home country, Germany, I notice just how rewarding this experience has been and how it has changed my perception of my own life here in Western Europe. I find it unbelievable how privileged many of us are, just by birth, to be able to have a healthy life in peace, to have enough food and clean water, to be able to obtain an education, to live in freedom and with equal rights.

Sudan really made me understand just how important it is to be thankful for this. It also made me realise how crucial it is to express this thankfulness by helping the ones who have to suffer and support those who are trying to make a change. Peace and development need the contribution of each one of us to blossom, so let us start spreading the seeds.