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Darfur: Clouded lenses, blinded future
Nyala is Darfur’s largest city, in the Western part of Sudan. The civil war that has torn Sudan apart for years has led many of its people to become refugees in their homeland. Thousands of men, women and children have fled to camps around Nyala in the hope of protection. Living conditions are harsh, but most of those internally displaced people (IDPs) have nowhere else to go. Every day is a fight against hunger and disease. Many have lost everything, even their sight: An estimated 60 percent of IDPs in Nyala suffer from cataract. Malnutrition, sun and dust are the main factors responsible for that. Aid agency doctors are doing their best to treat them at Nyala’s only public hospital, but the needs seem overwhelming. In addition to basic goods, it is thus little known that many IDPs need eye surgery to avoid blindness. Their clouded lenses are a metaphor for the uncertainty of Darfur’s future after years of unending darkness.