KOSTI — The scene along the banks of the White Nile River near Kosti, Sudan is one of chaos.

A line of cars, donkey carts and people stretches from a docked orange and white cargo barge and down a long red dirt road that leads back to a field of tattered tents and camps.

Squalling children sit between sacks of grain and onions, furniture and folded bed frames. Families frantically gather their possessions in the sweltering heat as young men haul mattresses and chairs onto the barge.

About 1,000 people have been waiting nearly three weeks at an Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) way station for this boat to arrive. Tonight they begin a harrowing three-week voyage that will hopefully deliver them to long-forgotten homes.

Located in the middle of the country, Kosti is a gateway between Northern and Southern Sudan. It’s also home to more than 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the south, waiting to return home after 20 years of civil war.

“Basically we give them food and non-food items. They stay in the way-station for two weeks, three weeks waiting for barges and we try to look after them,” said Salah Ibrahim, ADRA’s Kosti director.

Many of the children making this journey have never even seen “home.” They were born and raised in IDP camps.

If they’re lucky, they’ll survive the trip, which finishes in the southern city of Juba, and return to their parents’ villages.

After spending almost a month in a camp with only the barest necessities, many people are suffering from diarrhea and other intestinal illnesses. Fresh, clean water is only available at one pump in the camp, meaning most families get water directly from the Nile.

“The conditions are very poor, they are very needy people. These children, really they need help. Two or three on each trip will die from illness. It’s a very tough trip,” said Ibrahim.

There are a host of other perils to contend with on the Kosti-Juba route. There are no life jackets on the barges.

If someone falls overboard and doesn’t drown, they still have crocodiles and venomous snakes to worry about. Ibrahim mentioned two people who were killed by crocodiles last year while sleeping on the open decks.

“The people are very vulnerable at night. Really, they are vulnerable all the time,” he said.

As if that weren’t enough, it’s only the lucky families who will face these dangers. Returning IDPs still have to pay their own way home, something most cannot afford.

“The suffering is horrible. The main problem you see is needy people, and not enough funding and you are suffering to find a donor,” said Ibrahim.

There are over two million IDPs in Sudan. The civil war ended in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, but after 20-odd years of fighting and fleeing, many families have given up on ever returning home.

ADRA is trying to implement an accelerated return plan that will send 500,000 IDPs back to their homes ,using barges, trains and buses departing from Kosti. Of those, 100,000 will pass through Kosti from Khartoum to take the barge. Suggested strategies for a quicker return include providing IDPs with travel vouchers and food for the trip.

“Over 60 per cent of the people who have been displaced will never return home. They’re hoping 500,000 will come back soon, but when the people return, they have nothing left,” he said.

Food is the biggest problem. ADRA distributes a three-month ration of supplies, including sacks of grain, lentils, water purification tablets and mosquito nets, but for families who have spent half their lives living as refugees, it’s not enough.

“Food security and haffirs, the old wells (dams) that had a natural filtration system, have completely broken down. We cannot guarantee adequate food security, that basically sums the whole problem up,” he said.

In Kosti, Ibrahim echoed Juby’s sentiments as he surveyed the Nile.

“They are waiting to return, they use everything they have to return. And when they get there, they starve. What is the answer?” he said.

paarhus@reddeeradvocate.com