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bandages for him with handkerchiefs. That ' s when he decided it was time to leave his country.
" If I can go with you, that would be great, but if I can ' t, don ' t stop. Take the old people and the children with you and leave me."
As the journey progressed, they joined other groups heading for the border. When he found it difficult to walk, they insisted on continuing without him.
" You ' re going to slow us down. We ' ll go with your family, but you stay here."
It was at sunrise that a Médecins Sans Frontières vehicle combing the area picked him up. A doctor was able to give him emergency treatment and, two days later, he was taken to the hospital in Adré where he was reunited with his family.
" Thank God my children and parents are safe, but I have lost a lot of people close to me."
These tragic stories are unfortunately common among refugees. The harshness of the story contrasts with the children singing in the distance. At the end of the alley, there is a warm interlude where children stand in a circle, turning and clapping their hands to the rhythm of songs they all seem to know by heart. This is the entrance to HI ' s Espace Ami d ' Enfants, supervised by Alida Mahoro. The youngest children are sitting quietly on mats inside, busy drawing or assembling coloured blocks, while the teenagers outside are taking part in team sports: volleyball for the girls and football for the boys.
" Initially, most of them were shy, isolated, depressed or aggressive. We organise recreational activities to help them forget the traumatic events they have been through and socialise with other children. We also aim to take in children with disabilities who have been injured in the conflict, so that they can improve their physical and motor skills. We also try to provide them with individual support through interviews and discussion groups," explains Nestor Sainkam, head of psychological support.
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR A POPULATION IN TURMOIL
" Chad is not necessarily a very sexy place from a funding point of view. So we ' re going to find ourselves with chronic underfunding problems. Under these conditions, it will be difficult to ensure food security, deliver water or set up new camps. The first camps consolidated by the UNHCR are already full’, says Romain Pinart, Project Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières France.
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