Angelina Jolie's Sudan Journal - UNHCR

UNHCR/ R. EkI sit down with the kids. Their clothes have so many holes. They are falling off.They have no shoes. I ask the translator to please say, “You have been througha lot. You have been very strong.” Some smile. Others bow their heads. Theywant me to know they miss school. “What do they need?” “First food and thenwater.” “Do they have any medicine?” “No.” I notice many cuts. A young girl’s eyeis closed and puffy like a golf ball. Maybe an insect. No doctor is here to look atit.“Before the fighting, what was your life like?” School, lots of fruit. Some don’tknow where their parents are. They ran and hope they are alive “in Chad or theEast.” “Some of us are orphans staying with other families.”They tell me how they have been beaten. Abda was tied by his neck and beatenand then left for dead. His father was killed by the Janjaweed. He is 10 years old.They are worried that in the coming days it will get cold. I would ask what Inormally ask. What do you want to be when you grow up? Or what is yourfavorite sport or food, etc. But to ask these children would be cruel. They have nochildhood and no hope.18