Christian Aid has enlisted displaced women in west Darfur in work schemes designed to help them gain their independence.

Around 20 women in total are on the scheme, which involves skilled but non-intensive work, hand-weaving prayer and bed mats from grass to be sold in the local market.

Christian Aid Partner Sudanaid is responsible for supplying the women with all the materials necessary to make the mats in order to give them greater independence in their daily lives.

The women involved in the project come mainly from Jeruf and have been in Dereig camp for displaced people since January 2005. The camp was set up for people dispossessed by the three-year conflict in Darfur between the government-backed Janjaweed militias and rebel movements.

One such dispossessed, Amal Achmed Altaib, 30, described the night the Janjaweed attacked. “They came on camels at 10 at night, they were shooting. We were frightened and ran away. Our houses were burnt and all our animals taken.”

Asha Mohammed Nur, 60, shared a similar tragic story of how her hopes of being looked after in her home village by here children were dashed after men chased them away on horses and camels. “We have lost everything,” she said. “My children are in a different camp.”

According to Christian Aid, the mats are always sold out when they are taken for sale in the market of Nyala, the main town in west Darfur and a major trading centre.

The money the women make can be used by them to then buy more food and supplies for their children, who attend the camp’s UNICEF school.

The conflict in west Darfur is an on-going conflict been fuelled greatly by the neglect of the central government in Darfur.

Although aid agencies in the camps insist to the women that they can one day return home, the women say they will not leave the camps unless their safety is guaranteed.

Amal admitted that despite being interned in a camp, not all was bad. “My children are in school here,” she said. “If we go home they will have no education.”

In most villages where the women originate from there is no school for their children, and the women have to walk up to two hours to fetch water for cooking, cleaning and irrigating the land.

One Sudanese official said: “Unless we ensure that this region is finally developed it will be difficult to help people return home. If we are to resolve this conflict, development must be part of the peace plan.”