Umsha, 15, and Zeynep, 20, are sisters from southern Darfur. They have four brothers and four sisters, and Umsha has two children. In their village, they grew millet,
tomatoes, yams and onions. They had 100 cows, 150 goats, 10 donkeys and 3 horses. The janjaweed came on camels and horses at one in the morning. The family heard helicopters and guns. The janjaweed burned the houses. Their fire came from matches. They caught people and killed them. They took animals and killed them. They took children and killed them. They took human beings and killed them. They took some children away. The ones who couldn’t walk they killed. They shot their father. They shot their brother. Umsha and Zeynep hid in the trees with their husbands. Nothing was left.
There was nothing left. They left their home. They walked for five days, carrying their baby. More than 100 walked together. They found water, but no food. They stopped at a makeshift camp and stayed until government soldiers came. The government soldiers burned the camp. The government soldiers beat the refugees. The government soldiers killed two refugees. The government soldiers maimed three boys. The government soldiers forced the living into lorries, and took them to a government camp.
The camp is better, Umsha and Zeynep say. They are in a tent, but they have no bed. They have one blanket to spread over all of them, and no bowl or bucket. Just dishes, too flat to hold water.
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