Darfur - Day 7

Please note that any opinions expressed in this blog are those of Chip Duncan and do not represent any other organizations or individuals. Darfur is a place of constant change and any statistical references are approximate and may change rapidly. If you are reading this after January, 2008, please verify any information with up-to-date and verifiable resources.



Day 7 – January 7th, 2008 - Sleep came easy, but the early morning call to prayer is followed by a series of gunshots. Since we’re in the guesthouse, it’s hard to say whether they’re intended for people or simply celebratory shots fired into the air. We hope for the best.

After another simple breakfast, we leave for the airport at El Fasher to catch a U.N. helicopter flight to the city of Kabkabiya. The two pilots and the flight engineer are all Russian as is the very old helicopter. I’ve flown on a lot of helicopters around the world but this is the first one that has a roll of duct tape and bailing wire within reach of the cockpit.

The chopper seats 12 with a large cargo area behind the last seat. Our flight includes our team of 3 plus 2 men from the World Food Program. It’s a 45 minute flight west. The landscape begins as more of the same – flat, brown, denuded of trees; however, within about twenty minutes of flying we’re passing a series of monoliths and small mountain ranges that seem to carve the countryside in half, north to south. We’re also flying more or less along the same line as a dirt road below – one that could just as easily pass as a dry river bed. It is, clearly, a road; however, I never see a vehicle of any kind between El Fasher and Kabkabiya.

Once we pass the peaks, I begin to see more villages at various bends in what appear to be dry creeks and small river beds. The villages range in size from 2-3 residential buildings surrounded by low stone fencing to similar enclaves with as many as 30-40 buildings. However, none of the villages we fly over appear inhabited.

When we arrive at Kabkabiya the airport is little more than a dirt strip. It’s about 9:30 in the morning and before the pilot takes off, they tell us they’ll be back to pick us up around 1:00. The R.I. team is there to pick us up in a beat up 4x4. I’m in the passenger seat and find out quickly that the only way to get out is to roll down my window, reach out and open the door from the outside. On the bright side, it’s not a vehicle anyone would be rushing out to steal – and that’s part of the point, really.

The wind is howling and fairly constant and there are no paved roads here. That means that not only are we eating the blowing sand (yes, our eyes take a beating), so is our equipment. Kabkabiya is much less formally organized than El Fasher. It’s sprawling and the single story, brown brick buildings are spread out over more than a mile. The west side of the city is bordered by a very wide, dry riverbed. The streets are filled with all kinds of people from what appear to be very different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. As we saw in El Fasher, there are people on horseback, camelback and donkey back. There are also far fewer vehicles here than in El Fasher – which makes sense considering that driving a car this far west into Sudan would be a very long and challenging drive.

Our first stop is the R.I. offices and, as we saw in El Fasher, the team is vibrant, organized and doing great work under very challenging circumstances. To the best of my knowledge, the entire team is comprised of Sudanese nationals. We head out right away to document work being done at a veterinary clinic on the west side of town. Most of what R.I. is providing in Kabkabiya is part of a sustainable livelihood program. Their work includes veterinary services, well building and maintenance, agriculture education and a highly successful program in the building and instruction behind the use of a very fuel-efficient brick stove.

The veterinary services are housed in a small building at a crossroads. Roughly 8-10 field staff have corralled both cows and goats for immunizations. I’d estimate about 40 head of cattle and roughly 50-60 goats. Since so many people survive off their livestock here, having a healthy herd is essentially to their livelihoods.

Stop number two is at a program on the east side of the city where people are building a well. As is the case in El Fasher, there’s plenty of water here – it’s a matter of getting to it. The well project is a significant one and 7-8 volunteers have finished digging and are now pouring concrete for the circular well. It’s hard work but the volunteers know the importance of it.

I ask to see a completed well and within about five minutes, we’re back on the west side of the city and across the dry river bed (we didn’t see any bridges so I’m guessing it’s a very difficult to non-existent crossing during the rainy season). We visit two completed wells where water’s being used for irrigation of several acres of prime vegetables – including tomatoes and several varieties of onions.

Our next stop is about a mile further west where farmers and workers have gathered for instruction on sustainable farming practices. About twenty men and women are sitting under one of the few remaining tall trees (everyone seeks out the shade when they can find it) and listening to an R.I. field staffer explain things like how to maximize yields, rotate crops, and proper times for planting and harvesting.

The final stop in our brief trip to Kabkabiya is back on the east side of town where R.I. has a small compound where highly efficient wood stoves are being manufactured from bricks (yes, the bricks are also manufactured locally). The program is temporarily at a standstill, but only because the manager of the program is away for the day. Still, from what we can gather, building and distributing these efficient brick stoves has dramatically cut down on the need for women to venture far beyond the city limits in search of firewood. They’re easy to use and the R.I. team is quickly educating local women in how to use them effectively for cooking.

Though we’re supposed to be back at the runway by 1:00, we’re running late. This isn’t good since the U.N. flight teams must maintain a tight schedule throughout the region. We make a mad dash and are driving up the runway as the helicopter propellers are warming up. The flight engineer has on his headset and waves us, running, into the chopper. It turns out it’s just the three of us for the flight back to El Fasher. We land at roughly 2:30 and return to the guesthouse for our final night in Darfur.

I’m now feeling more than initiated into life in the guesthouse – bring a good book or you’re sunk with boredom at night. Fortunately, I’m in the middle of the latest novel by Jim Harrison so time isn’t at a complete standstill. Everything’s fine until the power goes out at 7:30. But in my case, I flip on my headlamp and continue well into the peaceful night.

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Thanks for following along on The Road To Darfur. Please visit again tomorrow for Day 8. If you’d like more information on the humanitarian work performed by Relief International throughout Sudan or elsewhere, please visit RI.org. Your help will make a difference to the people of Kabakbiya and elsewhere!