In the days following the clashes that shook N’Djamena, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Red Cross of Chad mobilized their teams to take care of the wounded and to collect and bury the bodies. This is just one example of the work the Red Cross is doing to help the victims of the conflict here.

“I am so pleased to see you. Meeting people from N'Djamena is reassuring and encourages us to return, because we’ve been here for four days without any news and we were very worried,” reveals Henriette, a mother who left the capital at the height of the violence to seek refuge in Kormanda, a small village not far from the border town of Kousseri in Cameroon.

She recounts the story of her departure from N'Djamena to two Red Cross of Chad volunteers and to the ICRC teams accompanying them. She left in the dead of night, with six children in tow – the oldest just 13. Henriette wants to go back: she wants to see her house and her friends again and she is anxious to know what has happened to relatives who stayed behind in N'Djamena.

The Red Cross teams have begun surveying the village and the surrounding area to assess people's needs and to find out more about the current conditions of those displaced by the conflict. Many are sheltering in the homes of relatives or friends, while others have been taken in by sympathetic families.


Nine months pregnant, four hours on foot

That was the situation for Madjiguinam (28) who has just given birth to her first child. Taking advantage of the relative calm that followed the clashes, a heavily pregnant Madjiguinam left N'Djamena early on 4 February. “I was afraid that it would start all over again. My husband works in eastern Chad and I was scared of staying in the city alone, with a baby on the way and no support. I knew that my aunt had come here. As soon as things calmed down and the fighting stopped, I gathered a few belongings and set off.

I walked for four hours; the roads were deserted. When I got to Kormanda I was so tired that I immediately starting having contractions. They went on for four days: as you can imagine, I was terrified – it was my first pregnancy.” At the end of this long labour, Madjiguinam finally gave birth to a little boy at dawn on 9 February, with the help of the women in the village. His father is still unaware that he has arrived, as Madjiguinam has no way of contacting him.

“It’s our job to make sure people are OK, to assess their needs and do everything we can to ensure that the authorities take action to deal with the aftermath of this conflict," explains Thomas Merkelback, head of the ICRC delegation in N’Djamena.


Walking around the village

Most people know about the medical services that the Red Cross provides. But over the next few days, as National Society volunteers walk through the village to check how the residents are doing, to locate people who have had to flee, and to take down the details of those who have lost contact with their loved ones, the meaning of the words "protection and "assistance," the cornerstones of the Red Cross mission in Chad, becomes very clear.

Although the conflict forced many to leave their homes, the majority are slowly coming back and are trying to piece their lives together again. Madjiguinam and her baby will be directed to medical facilities, and the Red Cross will make sure that her husband finally gets some news about her. "We left with nothing, a knot of fear in our stomachs. We hadn't been injured, but our hearts were breaking. We don't know what awaits us, but we have learnt so much from this experience. The solidarity of the communities who took us in and the concern shown by the Red Cross in coming all the way out to this village to check if people from N'Djamena were here – all of that means so much to us,” says Henriette.

While Henriette heads home and Madjiguinam rocks her baby son, the Red Cross team continues to assess the impact of this battle, district by district, person by person. A volunteer sums it up: “It’s about showing these people some respect and dignity; this could be my mother, my brother or my sister. This has nothing to do with them; they are here because of the war, but their lives are waiting for them back in N'Djamena."