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" It ' s an overcrowded shanty town,’ says Eric Ndiramiye, head of Humanity & Inclusion ' s( HI) rehabilitation programs in the region, whose teams work in the field in partnership with the NGO Acted to identify mental health and rehabilitation needs. " The refugees are only supposed to stay here for a maximum of one month to complete the formalities associated with their arrival, and then leave for a real camp. So there is virtually no care, and some refugees can go three or four months without receiving any care at all."
As Alida Mahoro, the technical manager of HI ' s mental health programs, explains, many of the refugees have been living here for over a year: " Most of them are resisting the idea of moving to other camps, which may be organised and equipped, but some of them feel that they are completely isolated. Life is livelier here because the refugees are close to the town. So they can work, set up small businesses and earn a bit of money ".
Indeed, the boundary between this informal camp and the town of Adré seems to be gradually disappearing, and a real village atmosphere can be observed at the entrance to the site. In the early hours of the morning, a noisy market springs up, with men transporting goods by horse or moped, and women setting up stalls on the ground to sell food. Just next door, in silence, around a hundred people, mainly women, children and a few elderly people, wait patiently in the rain, with serious looks on their faces, in front of the authorities ' tents to register. They have arrived from Sudan during the night.
The other problem with this site is that it is too close to Sudan.
" For their own safety, the refugees absolutely must be kept away from the border. When you ' re only a few kilometres away, the risk of attacks from the country of origin is extremely high ", explains Xavier Creach, before recounting that last year, a shell fired by a militia from Sudan fell on the site, injuring one person. " Having a large number of refugees in border areas means running the risk of the conflict spilling over. There is also the possibility that armed fighters could slip in among the refugees. For this reason, our objective is to keep the refugees ideally 50 kilometres from the border, i. e. more than a day ' s walk away."
Further south, after a two-hour drive, the Aboutengue camp comes into view. Unlike the previous camp, many NGOs are present on the site. They take care of needs such as healthcare and education. Juxtaposed in a grid pattern, small plots of land enclosed by branches planted in the
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