It’s summertime in the Otash Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in South Darfur. The oppressive heat hangs on the more than 80,000 men, women and children cramped in makeshift tents. Their futures are bleak with no homes or land to return to. They sit, as time ebbs away and the violence continues around them.

This spring GHNI was authorized to work in the Otash IDP Camp and are working with an amazing group of women. We partnered with a Sudanese NGO, Children’s Development Foundation (CDF), and built a new women’s center where there will be livelihood and income generation training, health and hygiene classes, counseling, and cultural exhibitions. 

GHNI recently held a Training of Teachers (TOT) for Community Health and Hygiene classes. One of the new teachers who will be working at the center is Hamed.

Hamed is an IDP in Otash Camp. He is a teacher in one of the camp’s emergency schools and a member of the Otash Youth Committee. He is a husband and father of three children, and he is deaf.

At the end of the TOT he gave a short illustration explaining the importance of reaching the disabled population within the Otash IDP Camp. He was overjoyed with the fact that the health and hygiene classes were being offered to the deaf. Too often the disabled are overlooked and considered sub-human. Hamed is excited to be part of our team working to empower the community with the knowledge needed to improve the conditions of individuals, families, the disabled, and the camp as a whole.