Ain Siro

Since Julie Flint first wrote about Ain Siro in a Washington Post article back in 2007, this small village in a mountainous region of North Darfur has become something of a poster-child for Darfuris ‘doing it for themselves.’ And, from what I saw last weekend, deservedly so.

Images we never see from Darfur - Palm trees in Ain Siro

I have to admit that when I saw Ain Siro on the Special Envoy’s schedule I was skeptical – – worried that the unique circumstances of this village might be (mis)used to generalize about what IDPs in the camps “should” be doing. But in actual fact the Special Envoy came to Ain Siro in order to meet with people working on rebel unification. It was by far the most positive set of interactions of his trip.

The people of Ain Siro have suffered, but their suffering is not representative of the experiences of most of the IDPs in Darfur. The Ain Siro area was bombed, and they have ongoing security concerns today related to the presence of Sudan-backed Chadian rebels in their territory. But thanks to the strength of the SLA in the area, the Janjaweid never took hold there. After fleeing government attacks, most people calculated they would be safer staying in the area than moving to the IDP camps where Janjaweid roamed the perimeter.

Things in Ain Siro aren’t perfect. There is a good school, but many of the children in the area can’t afford to attend because of a $2 per semester school fee, necessitated by the fact that the government will only pay the salaries of two teachers. Ain Siro faces many challenges, but what is striking about visiting there is that it feels like there is hope – something you don’t get a sense of in the camps.

People from surrounding areas curious to see the Special Envoy

Flying out of Ain Siro I remembered of a paper I read by Barbara Harrell Bond back in grad school, which basically argued that refugee camps are not good for anyone – the arguments in it apply equally to IDP camps.   I understand they are a necessity in terms of service delivery, but psychologically they come at a cost. Of course it is not only the experience of living in camps that is the critical factor in this equation. It’s the trauma people experienced even before they made it into the camps.

The Special Envoy is trying to encourage people to start thinking about how to build a Darfur for their children to grow up happy and healthy in. It’s a vision that the people of Ain Siro are already engaging with. But for most of those in the camps, the day-to-day  struggle remains too overwhelming to begin thinking beyond mere survival.