Episcopal Relief and Development is helping internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Darfur region of the Sudan. The United Nations has called the 17-month conflict in the country the worst humanitarian crisis today. Armed militia groups, called Janjaweed, have killed almost 30,000 Sudanese. Some 1.2 million have been forced from their homes and 2.2 million people need emergency food, medicine, and other critical supplies.
Through a partnership with ERD, the Episcopal Church of Sudan led a delegation to the Darfur region to assess conditions and emergency needs of IDPs in six camps where almost 122,000 live. The assessment was ERD's initial response as part of its long-term and ongoing work to help the Sudanese people.
ERD has partnered with the Episcopal Church of Sudan's Sudanese Development and Relief Agency (SUDRA) to provide critical assistance to nearly 10,000 people in and around refugee camps in the remote region of Kass.
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing temporary shelter, cooking supplies, and mosquito nets to people in Kass. Families will receive plastic sheets for temporary shelter. ERD is supplying saucepans for households who cook. Lactating and pregnant women are receiving mosquito nets and blankets.
SUDRA's assessment team described conditions in Kass, which is located two hours by car from Nyala in southern Darfur. Nearly 40,000 IDPs have arrived at the camp from 53 surrounding villages after unrest and violence.
"The villages were burnt by Janjaweed who came with 18 vehicles and camels. When they arrived, they began to shoot people, men were beaten, and the situation became confusing. People escaped to the forest and stayed there for two months roaming around. The villages were looted and young women were raped. Six hundred people were killed of which 172 were girls. People are living in 10 local schools with inadequate sanitation. Some of the community's greatest needs are security, food, shelter, and health care."
Please pray for peace in Sudan. For updates on ERD's work in Sudan, visit www.er-d.org.
To make a contribution and help the people of Sudan, donate to the Sudan Relief Fund at www.er-d.org or call (800) 334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, c/o Sudan Relief Fund, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ, 07101.
