Explaining the Labels: Fatima's Story

BALTIMORE, Md. (CRS) - Refugees. Returnees. IDPs. These labels are often used to describe the people affected by war and conflict, but understanding the terms can be difficult. For a sense of what they mean, follow Fatima, a 15-year-old girl from West Darfur, whose story provides an explanation.

Fatima and her family fled from their village in August 2003, when armed men on horseback attacked, killing some of their neighbors. On foot, the family moved quickly through the bush, following others from the village in search of a safe haven. As they moved west, they crossed the line dividing Sudan and Chad and, in doing so, became refugees. The family ended up in a refugee camp where they spent the next 12 months. Instead of harvesting the fields they had planted just a month before leaving, they depended on donated food. And instead of living in their own home, they moved into a small tent, surrounded by the small tents of other families, and shared a latrine with other refugees. But, Fatima's father explained, "Allah took care," and the family survived. Fatima's mother even gave birth to a baby -- Suleiman -- in the camp's health facility. After living at the refugee camp for a year, Fatima's family received news that Sudan was safe. They heard that African Union troops had arrived to protect the people, and humanitarian agencies were distributing food and medicine. With this news, Fatima and her family boarded a truck heading back to Sudan. Their label changed when they crossed the border -- they became returnees. But when Fatima's family arrived, they barely recognized their village. Homes had been burned and wells destroyed. Weeds and meandering animals had decimated their once-healthy fields. Neighbors who had returned earlier to a nearby village had constructed makeshift huts, though these offered little protection from the cold or rain. With no other choice, Fatima's family joined them. Unable to go home, and with little means of sustenance, Fatima's label changed again. She was displaced within the borders of her own country -- an internally displaced person, or IDP. Though labels help describe a person's condition, they matter little when that person is in need. Whether inside her homeland or outside its borders, Fatima required assistance to survive. When Catholic Relief Services first arrived in Goz Diga in April 2005, agency workers found people living in tiny homes built of twigs, scraping out an existence by selling firewood and eating leaves, and praying that help would soon come. Their situation was intolerable. Within a month, CRS registered more than 4,000 people to receive food. Two days after the registration, the agency delivered wheat, peas, sugar, salt, vegetable oil and corn-soy blend to affected families in the area. Shortly after that, trucks arrived with essential household items -- including jerry cans for collecting water, pots for cooking, and plastic sheets to protect from the sun and rain. These basic provisions helped Fatima, who had spent her days gathering firewood to sell or to exchange for food and her nights huddled under one blanket with her two sisters. Through a CRS seed fair -- which allows farmers to buy seeds and tools from local traders through a voucher system -- Fatima's parents got the materials they needed to begin cultivating fields they had been forced to leave more than a year earlier. As her former life is restored, Fatima can strip off the labels -- no longer a refugee, a returnee or an IDP, Fatima has finally come home. - - - Adriane Seibert is the communications officer and Homeward Bound program manager for the CRS Northern Sudan Program, based in Khartoum.

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Reprinted by Catholic Online with permission of Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org)