For almost three years, rival armies and former allies have been fighting for control of the shattered country, engaged in a brutal civil conflict that has destabilized multiple countries bordering Sudan.
“Today in Darfur, reaching a single child can take days of negotiations, security clearances and travel across sandy roads under shifting front lines.” he said. “Nothing in this crisis is simple: Each movement is achieved with effort, each delivery is fragile.“
City built from fear
Ms Hinds had just returned from Tawila, North Darfur, where she witnessed what she described as an entire city rebuilt out of desperation. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the violence and built makeshift shelters with sticks, hay and plastic sheets.
“Between 500,000 and 600,000 people are taking refuge there,” he reported. “But being inside that vast expanse of makeshift shelters was overwhelming. It seemed like an entire city uprooted and rebuilt out of necessity and fear.”
Despite insecurity and logistical obstacles, UNICEF and its partners are still reaching children.
Effective relief operation
In just two weeks, more than 140,000 children were vaccinated, thousands were treated for illness and malnutrition, drinking water was restored to tens of thousands, and temporary classrooms were opened.
“It is meticulous and precarious work (we deliver one convoy, one clinic, one classroom at a time), but for the children of Darfur, It’s the fine line between being abandoned and being caught up”Ms Hinds said.
She described her meeting with Doha, a teenager recently arrived from Al Fasher, who dreams of returning to school and one day teaching English. “Its name refers to the soft light just after dawn,” Hinds said. “She embodies that image: hopeful and determined.”
‘The children are freezing’
At a nutrition center, he met Fátima, a young woman receiving treatment for malnutrition after losing her mother in the conflict.
At a center for women and girls, mothers said they had no food, blankets or warm clothing for their children. “The children are freezing,” one mother told him. “We have nothing to cover them with.”
“These personal stories reflect only a small part of a much larger situation,” said Ms Hinds, noting that Sudan is now the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, although one of the least visible.
“What I witnessed is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding on a large scale,”, he warned.
“Sudan’s children urgently need international attention and decisive action. Without it, the horrors faced by the country’s youngest and most vulnerable will only deepen.”