VOA标准英语2012--Charity Workers Say Time Running Out to Help South Sudan Refugees

Charity Workers Say Time Running Out to Help South Sudan Refugees

 

More than 100,000 refugees have fled conflict in Sudan’s war-torn border states. Since June, just weeks before the country split, they sought refuge in the newly-independent south. But having escaped violence and aerial bombardment, the refugees now find themselves in another precarious¹ situation, due to food and water shortages in South Sudan camps.

In Jamam, Upper Nile State, a dried up watering hole has now become a bowl of cracked, springy clay. Women submerged in small pits spend hours each day scooping² up dirty water.

Macda Doka Waka, 19, says her family fled here two months ago when the bombs fell on her village of Kukur, in Sudan’s Blue Nile state. Her husband is one of the rebel soldiers that President Omar al-Bashir has been fighting in Blue Nile since September, after violence spread in June from neighboring South Kordofan. Since then, no aid has been allowed into these states. Harvests have failed and routes largely have been cut off. These refugees are now relying on international charities in South Sudan for survival.

Kukur says she and her mother spend three hours at this watering hole, digging in the sludge to fill one jerry can with grayish water.

“We know that this water is not good," she admits, "but it is because we do not have water there. We used to make lines and take water from the tap, but since two days we have not had water and that is why all of us shifted here."

At bustling³ water points, squabbles and scuffles often break out between women, often waiting days in 45 C heat for water trucks to come and fill the lines of containers snaking along the cracked earth.

A man with a whip and another with a pad and pen are in charge of trying to maintain order. But as the sun sets on Jamam, dejected women gather up their empty jerry cans and buckets. Tensions will only mount tomorrow.

Daudi Makamba, a water expert for the international charity OXFAM, says the organization is struggling to provide enough water for more than 35,000 people in the camp. Wells have collapsed⁴ and water-carrying trucks cannot keep up with demand.

“For the moment we have an average of five to six liters per person per day," explains Makamba. "For survival, it is from three liters up to seven liters. But for basic water needs, such as drinking, bathing and washing, we need at least to have from 7.5 to 15 liters per person per day.” 

Makamba fears the agency will fall further behind if there is another large influx⁵ of people. Some estimate that up to 80,000 refugees could arrive when the rains start in late April and food stocks across the border run out.

Sheikh Osman Alamin, 43, a farmer from Bau County, says he fled bomber⁶ planes in Blue Nile three months ago. He says life had become very difficult there because there is not even a market or anywhere to go and buy things to eat. If you can go and scavenge sorghum⁷ inside the houses of people who left, then fine he says -- but there is not even any salt. Sitting on a mat outside a makeshift shelter made of plastic sheeting, Alamin says that even now the refugees are not settled.

Within weeks, most of this floodplain site will be a mudbath, and complaints about the lack of food and water will increase as roads to this barren haven⁸ are also submerged.

OXFAM is appealing for help in trying to resolve supply problems now. It says it will be three times more expensive when the rains come and everything will have to be flown in and drilling boreholes will be even more difficult.

Alnoor Abudik Said, a Bau County chief, says he thinks President al-Bashir wants to rid Blue Nile of black people by bombing them. He adds that he doubts any peace will come soon enough to allow people back.

1 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

2 scooping   

n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• Heated ice cream scoop is used for scooping really cold ice cream. 加热的冰淇淋勺是用来舀非常凉的冰淇淋的。 来自互联网
• The scoop-up was the key phase during a scooping cycle. 3个区间中，铲取区间是整个作业循环的关键。 来自互联网

3 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

6 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

7 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

8 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。