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# Too many refugees, too little water
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/too-many-refugees-too-little-water/
- Published: 2010-02-23T14:02:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-16T14:00:41.000Z
- Description: A photo essay on water problems in Eastern Chad
- Author: Anna Husarska
- Tags: Africa, #Migrated, Conflict & security, Brexit Divisions, conflict, Equality, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:02, #ImagesUploaded

![1.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/1_ARlPgXt-1776347704937.jpg)

1.jpg

Bahai is a small town in Eastern Chad 2 kilometers from the Darfur border. The only safe access is by little planes run by humanitarian groups.

![2.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/2_SGu9MLo-1776347704957.jpg)

2.jpg

The airport is practically non-existent but the building and the sign are there, so are the UN-trained local police.

![3.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/3_jzhxv9Q-1776347704989.jpg)

3.jpg

The Ouré Cassoni camp, some 25 kilometers north from Bahai is home to over 10.000 Sudanese refugees who mostly came in 2004, at the height of the Darfur crisis.

![4.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/4_yXKeGOX-1776347705035.jpg)

4.jpg

Lake Cariari, the only source of water for the camp is drying up and pumping it is becoming very expensive.

![5.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/5_OY3xeWD-1776347705047.jpg)

5.jpg

At the end of the dry season the water is very filthy and it has also receded far away from the filters.

![6.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/6_5LV7DuT-1776347705047.jpg)

6.jpg

The filtering is done in huge tanks, a system installed by the International Rescue Committee five years ago.

![7.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/7_6m38p0p-1776347705105.jpg)

7.jpg

Women are known to be much better daily workers than men so they are employed to assemble the tanks.

![8.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/8_8xKAay8-1776347705166.jpg)

8.jpg

The camp has 23 communal taps with a total of 142 taps where the refugees come to fill in their yellow jerry cans.

![9.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/9_4Y9Rxtq-1776347705163.jpg)

9.jpg

Everybody carries water, although sometimes it seems to be more than they can lift.

![10.jpg](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/10_32LjDzP-1776347705180.jpg)

10.jpg

Among the camp-inhabitants Obama is undoubtedly popular. “Inshallah he will solve all Darfur’s problems,” they say. Inshallah indeed.

***Anna Husarska is senior policy adviser at the*** [***International Rescue Committee***](http://www.theirc.org/?ref=opendemocracy.net)