28 August 2012
In this photo taken in 2000, two young girls play at a displaced persons camp outside Delle, Eritrea. (photo: Christian Molidor, R.S.M.)
Back in 2000, Brother Vincent Pelletier, F.S.C., CNEWA’s former regional director for Ethiopia and Eritrea, visited Eritrea following the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. He recorded his observations, which revealed the effects of war on a people:
We visited a camp for the displaced in the village of Delle, about 18 miles west of Barentu. With some 45,000 residents, it is one of the largest camps in Eritrea. More people are expected to enter the camp as those who fled to Sudan during active fighting continue to return. As we walked through the camp we noticed that many inhabitants had set up shop in their tents and were selling everything from soap powder to beer. Under a canvas, a makeshift school had been organized for the children. I was relieved to see that the children in the camp looked healthy. By contrast, some of the children from surrounding villages appeared malnourished. Some of these people have been in the camp for two years.
There was a bit of commotion outside the camp as a good number of Sudanese trucks drove by. We were told that the Eritrean government currently imports a large amount of grain from Sudan.
For more, read Eritrea in War’s Aftermath.
Tags: Ethiopia Children War Africa Eritrea