Darfur Research Paper

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Joy Bassett English 102 April 4, 2011 Research Paper Women and Children of Darfur—Basic and Mental Health Needs The Darfur region has been under siege both by neighboring countries as well as the Sudanese government. They have cut off all attempts at restoring Darfur to a settled country. This civil war that has lasted for over 20 years saw a short reprieve in January of 2002 when a ceasefire was reached between the two sides. The conflict at hand started in 2003 and is increasing at an alarming rate. It is causing damage to both the mental and physical welfare of the population of Darfur. The Sudanese government is looking the other way while the militias are raping, killing, and torturing the Darfur citizens. This essay will argue…show more content…
Simon interviews women at a Darfuri refugee camp, where little in terms of psychological help is available for raped women and girls. I also cite research which shows that children at Darfuri refugee camps are suffering from severe malnutrition and this is slowly but steadily increasing. The primary reason is that people just do not have anything to eat. The dwellings in which these people live are made of mud and during the rainy season the women and children are sleeping in the damp and cold. They are faced with the most unsanitary conditions, dead bodies lying in the roads, no way to wash or clean their clothes, and what drinking water they can get is dirty and muddy. The people of Darfur are being attacked by the militia and burned out of their villages. They are left with no place to go but the makeshift camps that have sprung up in and around Chad. There are more than 200,000 refugees displaced in Chad due to this war, and does not include the surrounding areas where others have fled too. The people in these camps need food, shelter, clothing, and medical supplies in order to survive—and just as importantly, they need extensive psychological…show more content…
He informs us of the widespread famine and the government’s denial of food aid. The prevalent diseases are polio, Hepatitis A, B, C, and E, rabies, malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, meningitis, leprosy, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS (15). The living conditions are no better. Some of the tribes are living in open caves, their villages having been bombed offer no shelter in their burned out buildings. The Sudanese government is supplying arms to the Arab nomads who have formed militias to attack and destroy villages. These militias are the ones the people of Darfur call Janjaweed which translates to as “the devil on a horse” (20). The Janjaweed is blocking and confiscating the medical supplies as well as the food that is coming in through humanitarian relief efforts. This civil war has created a need for basic medical needs especially for the women and children. As this cleansing of the African race continues, it is causing mental, physical, and health issues that are spiraling out of
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