By Davis Makori, a humanitarian policy and advocacy specialist with Plan International.
We arrive just in time to catch a spirited early morning game of volleyball at the dusty court adjacent to the gathering site for displaced persons. It’s a hot and sunny morning in March, right in the middle of Ramadan.
The shrieks of delight and infectious energy as the children attempt to put together a successful serve and return sequence could easily distract a visitor from the reality that the site is only three to four hours away by road from Wad Madani, one of the frontlines of Sudan’s brutal conflict that has now raged for two years.
The gathering site hosts displaced persons from the neighbouring Khartoum, Sennar and Al Jazeera states. It also provides vital humanitarian relief and services to displaced persons living with host communities in Gadarif.
The volleyball game has now become frenetic and more competitive despite the best efforts of one Plan staff member to demonstrate the underhand serving technique to a gaggle of overeager participants. Just beyond the volleyball court, a group of younger children are sat on a mat next to a straw-covered shelter, a distinctive element of Gadarif’s architecture, absorbed with colourful puzzles, colouring books and sketchbooks under the watchful eye of a facilitator.
Child-friendly spaces have been established to provide a safe, predictable and stimulating environment where children can play and participate in recreation, leisure and learning activities designed to support their resilience and wellbeing. They are set up as safe places for children affected by emergencies such as the conflict in Sudan.
Children, especially girls, have been disproportionately affected by the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. The Sudan crisis is the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with over 4.6 million children who have fled their homes since April 2023. Nearly half of the over 30 million people who need humanitarian assistance are children.
Nearly one million children have also fled across borders, particularly to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. Despite forming nearly half of the affected population, children’s humanitarian needs remain largely unmet. An estimated 90% of Sudan’s 19 million school-aged children have lost access to formal education.
Nasra, the facilitator at the child-friendly space, explains that the space opened in March and has multiple activities including volleyball, puzzle activities, drawing and colouring, as well as swings, skipping ropes and other play activities.
“It is in their sketchbooks that we discover their talents,” she adds, noting that many of the children have uncovered talents that they hadn’t tapped into before because they didn’t have the resources to do so. She notes that most of the children at the child-friendly space have been forcibly displaced from restricted areas and couldn’t get into schools.
“On the first day, the children were frightened, they were scared, but then we were able to integrate them into the space and the atmosphere improved. They stayed with us and the children started to play normally, but they were very nervous when they were asked to do something. But after that, they were able to understand and calmed down.”
Emergencies, displacement and crises such as the one in Sudan cause turmoil and uncertainty for many children. Child-friendly spaces provide a safe space for children to be children — to play, explore, laugh with their friends, interact with trusted adults, and have a place they know they can go to for help.
They provide routine and stability that is important for children’s recovery in the aftermath of a crisis. Group activities provide opportunities for children to come together in a predictable and stimulating environment to be safe, to learn, to express themselves, to make connections and to feel supported. It is well recognized that regular engagement in these activities can positively impact well-being, enhance resilience and reduce stress.
At child-friendly spaces, protection workers such as Nasra observe children and identify those who are vulnerable or experiencing abuse, neglect, exploitation or violence and provide necessary support and appropriate referrals. There has been a steep and alarming rise in gender-based violence against women and girls. These spaces also allow protection workers to identify children who are experiencing severe distress and refer them to more specialized support services.
The volleyball game concludes as some of the older children take a break and Nasra rallies volunteers to collect the puzzles, drawing books and toys for storage. It is not lost on her that the conflict still wages on further afield — and that millions of children face a bleak and uncertain future unless the guns fall silent. The conflict has now waged for two years, but Nasra still hopes that the children will one day return home, to school and to a life of normalcy.
