Bringing water to dry Darfur
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Paul Drossou is a water engineer with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in El Fashir, Northern Darfur. He talks about his work and the resourceful people he has met:
“At the moment my main jobs are to rehabilitate traditional wells, install hand pumps and oversee the construction of water points.
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 | | | “When I first arrived, we focused our activities in camps for people who had been displaced by the conflict, installing water tanks. Now that these sites are established, we’re moving out to remote rural areas where many sites have been badly damaged or destroyed. | |
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"I work with six Sudanese field officers. They’re like my eyes and ears, and make the job here much easier.
“When we visit local communities, they help explain what the Red Cross is about. It takes time to build trust and understanding of our work. We explain the role of the Red Cross in conflicts and we’re always honest about what we can achieve. If we say we’ll come back and help, we do. We ask the community how we can try and help get things back to normal. Usually this means rehabilitating traditional wells, the main source of safe water for people here.
“It’s incredible here. People are used to walking two or three days to get water. Back home all you need to do is turn on a tap. People here live in a harsh, harsh world. But everyone in the community pulls together and community spirit is really strong. The people here are great and it’s been a real learning curve for me.”
You can support our work in Darfur in the following ways:
Donate to the Darfur Crisis appeal
Volunteer
We do not send volunteers overseas but there are many ways you can help us raise funds in the UK. | |
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