Volunteers give helping hand

Nasr Eldinna Elsanjah is a volunteer working with Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) to distribute vital aid to refugees in Belil. [Fiona Callister]

They are rarely in the media spotlight, but Sudanese volunteers are playing a crucial role in responding to the crisis in Darfur

Nasr Eldinna Elsanjah, a former trader from Nyala is just one of 80 volunteers who have been working with CAFOD’s long-term partners Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) to distribute vital aid to refugees in a camp in Belil.

"I volunteered to help SUDO because I just wanted to help these people and I have no money to give them. I have nothing to give so I give them my time," says Nasr.

Nasr Eldinna Elsanjah has been helping out in Belil camp, about 30 miles south of his home in Nyala. The camp is mainly inhabited by Dinka people from South Sudan – around 4,200 of them currently live there.

"I don’t have a job at the moment although I have been looking. When I am not volunteering for SUDO, I carry on looking for work," says Nasr.

Rudimentary shelters

One part of the camp ('Camp A'), looks like an established village, while the other part of the camp ('Camp B') consists of very rudimentary shelters ranging from straw huts to a mere collection of sticks.

This is where people who have arrived since April are now living. They are unable to leave the camp to find work because of fear of attacks by militia.

Nasr has been closely working with SUDO in responding to the recent influx of refugees arriving at the camp:

"Before coming here today to do the distribution I helped to carry out an assessment of needs in the camps.

"To do that I was specially trained by SUDO in areas such as child protection issues and how to accurately register members of the camp."

Distribution of vital aid

With the help of volunteers like Nasr, SUDO has distributed plastic sheeting, rope, soap and blankets to 525 households in both camps.

SUDO are also working with the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and Sudanaid (Caritas Sudan) in camps near the towns of Zalingi and Mershing.

They have provided clean water and proper sanitation and distributed plastic sheeting and shelter as well as basic family kits containing cooking pots and jerry cans for water. In some of the more established camps they have set up schools and clinics.

Job satisfaction

"Doing this work is very satisfying," says Nasr. "I am always greeted by the people in the camps and they always cooperate with me."

"The first time I came to a camp I was struck by how difficult life was there especially when it rains and they have no proper shelter. They are all very poor because they have lost everything and need our help.”

take action

Advent Appeal 2008 Send YOUR Advent message of support to kids at a special school run by a CAFOD partner - you really will make a difference to many children's lives this Christmas

Shine a light in the darkness Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land - plus send a personal message of solidarity to the people of Macambol

Buy a World Gift Browse our new range of alternative gifts that act as two presents in one – something for you to give to friends or a relative, while the real gift changes the life of someone living in poverty