Running scared

Running scared

Thousands of people fled Chad’s capital for neighbouring Cameroon in February 2008, following fierce fighting between the Chadian government and rebel forces.

Three Chadian refugees told World Vision about their escape.

“I decided to run after witnessing the death of six neighbours after a bomb shell hit their house,” said 60-year-old grandmother, Mariam.

“Before that, another bomb hit our roof, but nobody was hurt. I was frightened when my neighbours were hit and I was scared that I might not be so lucky the third time,” she adds.

Mariam and her family fled their N’Djamena home at 2am. She recalls that it took almost seven hours to reach the border with Cameroon, just ten kilometres away, as the crowd of frightened Chadians was so large.

The group escaped as an extended family of more than 18 people, including Mariam’s children, grandchildren and neighbours.

Sheltering beneath a tree

Like many other refugees, Mariam has chosen a little thorny tree to set up a new home for the family. Bed sheets and clothes are used to create a makeshift shelter.

Life in the camp is windy by day and cold by night at this time of year.

“There was no food for us when we arrived here,” says Mariam.

“I was compelled to sell, at a throwaway price, the cell phone I bought two months ago. The money I got helped me feed my family.”

Food distribution started at the weekend in the camp where Mariam and her family are living. Mariam is relieved, as the money she received for her phone has almost run out.

“As you can imagine, there is not much you can do with such an amount of money. It doesn’t last very long when trying to feed this huge number of people,” she says.

For the time being, Mariam believes that it is not wise to return to N’Djamena.

“You cannot believe how the gun shots have affected my three-year-old granddaughter,” she says.

“I want to be sure that she recovers from the trauma before going back to N’Djamena.”

Nothing to buy

Laoussa, 45, is also reluctant to return to Chad.

“It’s better to stay here than to go home and suffer,” he says.

“All the cereal in N’Djamena is burnt; even if you have money there is nothing to buy. We are under God’s protection now.”

Laoussa escaped Chad with his wife and their five children after intense fighting broke out.

Pointing to a crowd of women and children, Laoussa says that five families fled together.

Hymns

The women and children from the five families sit together on mats. One woman sits on a blanket; the children wear many layers to keep warm as the sun rises. The group begins to sing hymns in Tuperie, one of Chad’s local languages.

Laoussa explains that he has started to return to N’Djamena to sleep each night in order to protect the family home from looters. He leaves his wife and children in the refugee camp, where he returns each morning, because he believes they are safer there.

The UN says that around 70,000 people have crossed the Chad–Cameroon border, where just a short bridge divides the two countries. Up to 35,000 refugees are now living in two camps in the town of Kousseri, Cameroon.

Many more Chadians are believed to have gone further afield or moved south within Chad itself, seeking protection from army and rebel shelling.

First visit

Victorine, 35, was visiting Chad’s capital for the first time when fighting broke out.

She left her rural village last month, taking her one-year-old child with her, to visit her sister in N’Djamena. It is common practice for villagers to visit cities following the harvest period to enjoy a break from the hard work of the rainy season.

“I was planning to get everything I needed to prepare for the next rainy season but now I don’t know what will happen,” she says softly.

Victorine recalls the day she fled N’Djamena.

“I was very afraid because I have never heard such noise in my life,” she says.

“Fire came out from airplanes and gunshots were heard from all over. Nobody could sit because we are all afraid that a shell or stray bullet may hit us.

“We stayed where we were until Sunday when we had to leave the house because people broke in to our home and looted everything we had.”

Victorine and her baby are now living in a temporary camp in Kousseri, together with Victorine’s sister and her family of 18 people.

A World Vision assessment team has been in Cameroon and Chad to see how the organisation can help respond to the crisis of displaced people.