Nurse tells of chance to ‘make a real difference’
“I was apprehensive at first but now I am thrilled to be here,” she says. “I love the work despite the problems and hardships involved.”
Niamh, whose home is in Silver Springs and who trained in Cork University Hospital where she worked until departing for Sudan, has been in Darfur for the past month working with the humanitarian agency GOAL.
With more than one million people in urgent need of assistance in the war-torn region, humanitarian organisations such as GOAL desperately need help.
Niamh, who has signed up with GOAL for a year, knew at once that she had to do something to help when she read newspaper reports of how hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their farms and homes.
The lucky ones escaped to neighbouring Chad or made their way to over-crowded camps with few facilities, where disease is easily spread.
They rely on aid agencies such as GOAL for survival. Many more though are not so lucky and more than 30,000 have already died.
For Niamh and her colleagues in Darfur, each day presents a different challenge. “I wanted to work overseas for a while and was lucky enough to get a job with GOAL. I didn’t know what to expect before I arrived here and I have been appalled by what I’ve seen. There are so many people in need of assistance and the aid agencies can only do so much,” said Niamh, speaking from GOAL’s base at Kutum, in North Darfur.
GOAL has been based in the town of Kutum since January, where three static primary health care clinics have been established, at Kasab Camp, Kutum town and Fata Burno. One area in Kutum, El Garbia, is now home to the largest number of refugees, or internally displaced people (IDPs). An already poor area with very few resources it is now stretched way beyond its limits.
“Mothers walk for days with their children in the scorching heat to get to the clinics. Now the rainy season is here and that makes any journey even more difficult. You can see the fear in their eyes and the relief when they reach us and can finally get help. We focus on providing them with basic primary healthcare. We also distribute shelter materials and containers to keep whatever food they have safe,” explained Niamh.
GOAL also operates eight mobile clinics, which administer curative care, vaccinations, health education, environmental health, as well as antenatal and postnatal care. “We recently carried out a measles vaccination programme, which was very successful. It’s heartbreaking to see people dying of such curable and treatable diseases. When people are living in such close quarters with very few facilities, diarrhoea, dysentery, measles and malaria can spread with disastrous consequences.
“A simple vaccination programme can save thousands of lives,” said Niamh.
The Sudanese authorities finally permitted GOAL to begin work in the Jebel Marra area of West Darfur in July. A GOAL team is now based in the area, working on projects which include infrastructural repairs, health, nutrition and water and sanitation. As the need for more personnel in Darfur increases, GOAL continues to send volunteers with experience in engineering, nursing, accountancy and project management to the troubled region.
Attendance at GOAL’s supplementary feeding camps has increased in recent months, indicating a rise in malnutrition, especially among children.
GOAL distributes kits, which include plastic sheeting and poles for shelter, cans and bowls for collecting water and cooking and a plastic mat on which to sleep, to more than 22,000 families in the region.
“We can only give them the absolute basics, but things as simple as that can save lives. The people that we meet on a daily basis are afraid. In addition to their worries about how they are going to feed their children, they are also afraid to go home. The conditions in the camps are appalling but it’s safer than returning to the villages. Women have seen their husbands killed and many have been raped themselves,” said Niamh.
For Niamh and her fellow GOALies in Darfur, every day is tough but rewarding. “I know that I’m lucky because I can help these people, even if it’s only in a small way. I’ve been so surprised by the spirit of those I meet every day. They have nothing and face an uncertain future but the children always smile and laugh when they can. They do not crave material things, just a life free from fear.”
lIf you would like to support GOAL’s work in Darfur you can make a lodgement to the GOAL bank account; AIB Greystones, Co Wicklow, account number 04000024, sort code 93 35 54.
Alternatively you can donate online at www.goal.ie, by credit card on 01-2809779 or send a cheque to: GOAL, PO Box 19, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.
