At a school compound in Tigray's shire town, a young woman in her twenties is magnanimously handing out material aid and money on behalf of a charity organization founded by Tigrayans in Addis Ababa. She and her fellow volunteers had collected and brought blankets, money, and other valuable goods to those who need them on behalf of TINSAE CHARITIES.
With an overwhelming number of IDPs dispersed across Tigray, including schools like the one the youngsters had just walked into to fulfill their meaningful work, every bit of help counts. Especially with severe food shortages and inadequate health systems, charitable communities like TINSAE play a crucial role.
with an overwhelming number of IDPs dispersed across Tigray, including schools like the one the youngsters had just walked into to fulfill their meaningful work, every bit of help counts. Especially with severe food shortages and inadequate health systems, charitable communities like TINSAE play a crucial role.
The volunteers are at the Tsehaye elementary school, in the heart of shire town. One of the volunteers proceeds into one of the cramped classrooms and sits down among a group of five seniors, made of four ladies and one willowy gentleman. Then, she starts inquiring about the group's troubles and challenges with a remorseful look on her face. Firstly she asks the elderly woman to her right, "what is life like here?" to which the elderly woman answers appreciatively, "All because of you, we are surviving. It's all thanks to you, my dear," showing immense gratitude in her mannerism.
The elders are sitting in a cramped-up shelter, inside a tent barely shielding against the elements. The wooden frame of the tent is noticeable from the inside, on which fresh laundry can be seen hanging. The conditions are depressing, with a single tent hosting multiple families.
Then after a quick scan of the space, she asks the elders, "does the canvas hold up during the rainy season?" The group reacts rather boomingly. From behind the camera, the gentleman could be heard, "of course it doesn't, it's thin, rainwater accumulates and forms a puddle on the canvas, and it leaks." "Only the white ones are of good quality," he says to the volunteer – he meant, of course, the UN-issued military-grade "white" tents.
The volunteer then asks the group if the people of shire town come to the make-shift camp to give support and aid. The elderly woman sitting adjacent to the volunteer, Tsadqan 62, answers, "the townsfolk give us food. On Sunday they come to us with food, and now, again you have brought us something to eat" and holds her hands up as a sign of gratitude. "You know, I haven't been allowed the customary 15-kilo wheat because they told me they couldn't find my name on the list of aid recipients.' But thank God I still have food to eat." Problems with her knees visibly vex the poor woman; she had sustained a knee injury while fleeing violent clashes in her hometown of Adiyabo, in western Tigray.
"As a charity organization, we have a lot of people that want to help, so what do you need most?" asks the volunteer, now getting familiar with the group. One of the women answers, "Well, you have brought us blankets now, but we need the leaking tent fixed." Quite taken aback by the possibility of more good that might come their way. "We also need mats; we are sleeping here on the ground." She notes while palming the bare ground.
The elders try to make the volunteer understand that they're staying in such harsh conditions because they can't push their way past the young ones in the camps to the 'much better camps' where they provide sleeping mats and stolid tents. The gentleman reappears in the frame, "look, these senior women you see here can't jostle past the young ones for the better tents, so they are forced to stay in these conditions."
To try to liven up the grim faces, the volunteer then asks questions about their families. But the inquiry seems to have had the reverse effect.
The gathering then ends following that question, and the elders start heaping praise and blessing on the young volunteer. She had distributed blankets and a small amount of birr. The assistance will be helpful to the elders, but by no means enough to survive in the conditions in which they're in. "you are blessed one, my daughter! may God be with you!" utters one of the elders. "may he give you plenty health, my daughter."
The violent conflict in Tigray has had a devastating impact on families across the region. Whether it be in an IDP site in shire, or across international borders in Sudan, Tigrayan families are reeling from the 7-month conflict. Many families have been separated and have no news of their loved ones. At TSEHAYE elementary school in shire, the elders in a crumpled tent are facing many problems.
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