Rebuilding your life after displacement using a community-based approach

Khadidja Mahamat Hassan, a Chadian woman who had lived for years in Al Geneina, in the Darfur region, fled the conflict to find refuge in the returnee community of Tongori in eastern Chad.

Following the fires that ravaged her shelter in March-April 2024, she received support from IOM to rebuild her home and rebuild her life.

I arrived in Adré from El Geneina (Darfur) on June 11, 2023, a Friday. We traveled in a group with my neighbors and our carriage, where we brought back two dead people who had been shot and three wounded people. The children were frightened and afraid of being shot (...). I carried the smallest one on my back for four days without taking him down. My three children walked all the way to Adré.

When we arrived, my feet were bleeding and I was almost naked. A lady gave me a veil and I shared part of it with my daughter to protect her from the weather. I was registered by the IOM and then given a tarpaulin to shelter us when it rained.

On a beautiful day in March, the sun was rising over Tongori, but in my heart it was pitch dark. My carriage, my livelihood, reduced to ashes. My shelter, my only refuge, gone up in smoke. I collapsed, tears burning my cheeks. “ What am I going to do?” I lamented, desperation overwhelming me.

An IOM protection team came by to console me, telling me to get up and move on. Heeding their advice, I started making bricks myself, with materials provided by IOM to the whole community. Thanks to this equipment, I was able to rebuild my shelter before the rainy season.

Some time after my house was built, the protection team came back to see my house and gave me 60,000 FCFA in assistance. This money helped me put the finishing touches to the roof of my bedroom, and I'm happy that this year I won't have to spend the rainy season outside. I have a roof, thanks to OIM!