The camps stunk of donkey dung and urine. It was the only smell in the hot, dry heat of Darfur that Robert Lankenau remembered. The clean, colorful clothes of the women stood in stark contrast to the corrugated tin roofs of the makeshift dwellings in the camp, providing a modicum of joy in the most desolate region of Sudan.
For in this vast desert the size of France, punctuated by pockets of urban activity where camps for the internally displaced have sprung up, the 21st century’s first genocide is taking place.
After more than a year working in Darfur, however, Lankenau, who is the Darfur field director for CHF International, has not lost faith in the work he and his fellow aid workers do.