Darfur refugee proud to attend school in Sudan

"I am seven years old," Nasr El-Din said, "I am in the second grade of school." An introduction like that could be provided by any schoolboy anywhere. However, this is perhaps the only normal thing about Nasr El-Din's life. Like many refugees in Darfur, Nasr El-Din has been through terrible experiences in the raging conflict in Darfur. Here he tells us of his experience from 2007 in Sudan.

Building a new home
"I like to come to the centre to talk to Zamzam and the other psychologists. I also like to build little rooms with clay and play with the other kids," Nasr El-Din described his activities at the SOS Psychosocial Relief Centre in Abu Shok Refugee Camp, Al-Fashir, Darfur.

Nasr El-Din was busily fixing his little clay building. He raised his head for a moment and said, "This is like my home in Korma where we come from. We aren't from here originally."

He continued to attend to his building, carefully piling up clay in the areas that needed support. The building materialised into a model of a rural Sudanese house. There was a wall that enclosed the house. The door led to a small courtyard, part of which Nasr El-Din covered with thatch to provide some shade. There were two rooms inside, one large room and one small room. He was working on fixing the roof of the internal rooms with clay and straw.

"We left Korma because it was attacked by soldiers," he mused, as though he was thinking out loud and rather speaking to himself than to anyone else. He fell silent for a few moments, attending to his little clay house.

"When I will have completed this house, it will look just like our home there in Korma. I will let it dry for a few days until it solidifies and the walls become strong," he explained, "I used to sleep in this room, which I shared with my siblings," he pointed at the larger room. The parents used to sleep in the smaller room.

He smoothed his hands over the clay, straightening out any uneven parts. He patted the walls to make sure they were straight.

"My grandfather used to live in the house next to us. He always used to take me with him to the market and buy me sweets. The soldiers killed him. They burned his house too. Then they told us all to leave Korma, or else the same would happen to us," Nasr El-Din said, "We then had to ride in a big truck that brought us here. When we arrived here we started building our own house, exactly as I am doing right now."

Nasr El-Din was a sad child when he came to the refugee camp. He wet his bed and had frequent nightmares. When his mother heard about the SOS Psychosocial Relief Centre in the camp, she brought him and his brother. Here they found care and support, and have been able to return to school and to an almost normal life. He may never forget the horrors of the past, but at least now he can live with them and make his own peace with them.

SOS Children has been working in Sudan since 1975 supporting refugees, child soldiers and families affected by the conflict. Two SOS Children's Villages at Khartoum and Malakal give a family to more than children, while ongoing programmes at the Abu Shok Refugee Camp, Al-Fashir, Darfur.

You can support children in Sudan by becoming a child sponsor.