KIDS FOR KIDS surprise meeting with SLA Commander in North Darfur
KIDS FOR KIDS
El Fasher, N Darfur — Patricia Parker MBE, founder of KIDS FOR KIDS, and fellow Trustee Alastair King-Smith, with two representatives of their implementing partners ITDG, Intermediate Technology Development Group, had a surprise meeting with SLA Commander Salah Bob yesterday when they arrived at one of the KIDS FOR KIDS project areas at Azagarfa, North Darfur. “We were alarmed when we heard shots and saw the SLA vehicles” said Patricia. “We had understood that all the necessary permissions had been obtained to make our visit possible. It is important that those operating in the area should be informed by any organisation working in those areas. But something apparently went wrong and there was a moment when we were uncertain how things would go”.
KIDS FOR KIDS was founded by Patricia four years ago, before the current conflict, when she and her son Alastair visited North Darfur and met a nine year old boy walking seven hours to reach water, and another seven to carry it back to his family. Since then KIDS FOR KIDS has provided water for 50,000 people and lent goats to over 400 families – hence its name. “The tragedy of the current conflict is that it has made life even harder for families here” said Patricia on her return to El Fasher today.
The group were taken to a remote tukul (a local hut made from millet stalks) in an SLA military base and kept waiting for several hours, during which time the Trustees talked to the SLA forces. It was then too late to return to El Fasher before nightfall and the curfew. “It was a privilege to be able to hear at first hand a little of how the conflict has affected these people” said Patricia who managed to sketch Commander Salah and his second in command Adam Musa during her time with them.
“KIDS FOR KIDS, thanks to our implementing partners ITDG, have managed to introduce our goat and donkey loan projects to 9 new villages in North Darfur in recent months, despite the conflict. This encounter enabled us to take the Commander to hear first-hand from families in Turra village how our goat loans are helping them during the current drought. This week KIDS FOR KIDS has also achieved a three year dream when we took deliver of a sterilising unit, donated by friends of KIDS FOR KIDS in Khartoum, for the hospital at Mellit, which serves 163,000 people and has just one doctor.” KIDS FOR KIDS was pleased to get back to El Fasher on Sunday in time to welcome the arrival of their partners SPANA, the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad, who are funding the training of paravets and an emergency donkey feeding programme to save the lives of working animals.
An important message from Patricia for those on both sides of the conflict: organisations need to feel safe to work in the villages, and to be given assurances that they are welcome. “Our support comes mainly from private individuals in the UK” said Patricia “and most of these are children. They want to know that we really can get help to children in Darfur during these troubling times. We would like to thank all those who helped us get back to El Fasher, and very much hope that the contact we made with the SLA Commanders will help ease the way for more organisations to work in these remote areas. The need is great and I would beg NGOs to follow the example of ITDG and bring help to isolated communities.” The milk of a goat makes a dramatic change to the life of a child when there is such hardship – and KIDS FOR KIDS is helping now: donations can be made online at www.kidsforkids.org.uk.
– Patricia Parker MBE Chairman : Denebank, Cotmandene, Dorking, Surrey RH4 2BL England
– Email:[email protected]
– Tel/fax +44 1306 887624
– UK mob +44 79 5720 6440
– Sudan Mob +249 9129 64187