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Village Eight (Sudan) (AFP)
Ten-year-old Samarwat Tkhal fled the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region this month; he now sells food to survive, among tens of thousands of fellow refugees who are building a new life in neighboring Sudan.
Tkhal, dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow pants, wanders the dusty streets of “Village Eight,” a transit point across the border with Sudan that has rapidly grown to the size of a small town.
It is the first stop for many of the Ethiopians fleeing their homeland.
Tkhal holds up a box of chocolate cakes as he shyly approaches potential customers.
“My father gives me a box of 50 cakes every morning that I sell,” he said. “I work from morning to night.”
More than 43,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan since fighting broke out in Tigray on November 4, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday while visiting Sudanese camps packed with people fleeing the conflict in northern Ethiopia.
While praising Sudan for maintaining its “traditional hospitality for people in need,” Grandi warned that the host country also “urgently requires international assistance to support its efforts.”
– Intense fight –
Hundreds of people have died in clashes between the federal government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the dissident forces of the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
On Friday, Abiy will meet with African Union envoys to discuss the worsening conflict, after he ordered the army to launch a final offensive against Tigrayan forces.
But while the conflict continues at home, many of the refugees in Sudan are already barely making a living in their new environment.
Taray Burhano, 32, walks the streets selling cigarettes, one by one, not by the pack.
“I’m not making a fortune,” said Burhano, who, like many, escaped with only what he could carry for the hard trek through the burning brush.
“But at least I don’t sit and think about what happened to us.”
Once a quiet settlement, Village Eight is now a busy hub.
– Entrepreneurs –
Chekhi Barra, 27, sits on the floor waiting for customers.
“Until a solution to the fighting is found, something has to be done,” he said, adding that while aid is arriving, people need more than is provided.
Barra fled with his wife and son from their home in the city of Mai-Kadara, where Ethiopia’s rights watchdog said this week that at least 600 civilians were massacred.
With what little money he made, Barra invested in a box of 100 bars of soap, a basic necessity that he knows will pay off when sold individually.
“I’m selling them for twice what I bought them,” he said.
Despite losing their homes and businesses, Ethiopian newcomers to Sudan are wasting no time.
Sylvia Tahai immediately resumed her job: selling coffee.
“As soon as I got there, I went to buy coffee, cups, sugar and a coffee pot,” said the 23-year-old, as customers huddled around her traditional Ethiopian flask that was brewed on a charcoal brazier.
Buhano Amha, 28, has built a stand where she sells tomatoes and onions.
“I get my supplies three times a day, because the products sell quickly,” he said.
Even small restaurants and bars are opening, built with whatever materials people can find.
Taklay Manott, 49, said he ran the largest restaurant in the Ethiopian city of Humera before fleeing.
In Sudan, he has set up a small cafe, with wooden planks as walls and a thatched roof to protect himself from the scorching sun.
“I lost everything,” said Mannot, who borrowed money from a Sudanese businessman to set up his new cafe.
The restaurant is a basic shack, with six chairs and two tables, and no longer has a complex menu.
The only dishes offered are fuul, the Sudanese staple dish of broad beans, and eggs.
But amid the gloom, Mannot looks to the future and has no plans to go home.
“I will not return to Humera,” he said. “I have nothing else to do there.”
© 2020 AFP
