LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Civil war in Sudan has led to the largest displacement crisis in the world. More than 10.5 million people have fled their homes according to the United Nations. At least 600,000 people have sought refuge in neighboring Chad. But they are fleeing to a place where food and water are scarce. NPR's Fatma Tanis has been reporting on hunger in several border towns in eastern Chad and joins us now. Hi, Fatma.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So what is the food situation right now in Chad? What are people eating?
TANIS: Not much. You know, most people here are farmers. It's the lean season. There's no harvesting going on. And most people are eating a bland porridge that's made with water, some kind of flour or corn meal. They might have a stew with onions and okra occasionally. Sudanese refugees tell me they're also eating the same thing. And help is not really available. Aid organizations say they don't have enough money to respond to the enormous needs here, and there are access issues as well due to the flooding that's been going on.
FADEL: And how has the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees added to the food strain for everyone?
TANIS: It's added quite a bit. I mean, food prices have gone up so much. People are in need of health care. There aren't enough doctors around. I went to one malnutrition clinic in Farchana that's serving the rural communities in the small town and the big Sudanese refugee camp of about 20,000 people nearby. I met the doctor at the clinic, Dr. Goukouni Bichara Ahmat, and he told me that the cases of severe acute malnutrition that they're seeing has really, really increased - he said about nine to 10 new children each week with severe, acute malnutrition. And he told me that at least 10 children in this area alone have died from complications related to malnutrition.
FADEL: And what kind of treatment is available to children with malnutrition?
TANIS: So both refugees and locals come to this clinic to get help. I met one baby girl yesterday. She's Chadian. Her name is Iqbal Abubakr Yaqub (ph). She's 15 months old. She was wearing a green little dress and a white necklace. She and her mother have been staying at the clinic for about two weeks, where she's been given special milk and nutritional supplementation. But Dr. Ahmat told us that he hadn't seen much improvement. You know, she was barely eating anything her mother tried to give her.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILD CRYING)
TANIS: Iqbal's hair was falling out. Her skin was so sensitive that she cried and recoiled every time she was touched. And Dr. Ahmat said those were severe symptoms. And, you know, this is the second time he's had to treat her for malnutrition. The first was back in March, when Iqbal was only 9 months old. And that's something they're seeing a lot here - repeat cases, which can lead to serious developmental damage.
Dr. Ahmat also told me that, when he sends children back home, he gives them a kind of nutritional cookie that they're supposed to eat twice a day for about a week or more. But he says usually what happens is that the entire family ends up sharing that cookie because they just have nothing else to eat.
FADEL: So refugees fled the war, trying to find safety. They find hunger in Chad. What have they been saying to you?
TANIS: They're frustrated. I met a woman in Adre, on the border with Sudan. Her name is Suad Abdulaziz Ahmad. She has got five children, and she's here alone with them because she got separated from her husband as they were fleeing Sudan a year ago. Now, in Chad, her youngest daughter is being treated for malnutrition. She and her children - you know, their clothes were in tatters. They came here with absolutely nothing. They witnessed all kinds of atrocities on their way to Chad from West Darfur. She talked about massacres, looting, dead bodies on the street.
And Leila, what was unexpected was how hopeful she was that the world would eventually come to their aid and that she and the hundreds of thousands of other refugees here wouldn't be left alone to die of hunger.
FADEL: That's NPR's Fatma Tanis reporting from eastern Chad. Thank you, Fatma.
TANIS: Thank you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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