Darfur's new tragedy

This little lad, recovering in El Fasher hospital, still shows the swollen head and loss of hair that are symptoms of severe malnutrition.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Crowds of women wait for access to the handpump at As Salaam camp outside El Fasher. While the aid agencies have concentrated on making water available for the camps, nothing has been done to help people in the villages have access to water. Many have to walk many miles to reach one handpump which must provide water for hundreds of people.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

The youngest often suffer first when food is scarce. Prices have soared and when the only income is from crops that do not exist families are forced to earn a living to support their children by trying to find firewood in the desert and selling it to other families struggling to survive.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Starving animals are another legacy of the drought. Kids for Kids provides animal husbandry courses that teach people how to store food for their animals over the 'hungry months'. Drought causes the deaths of many animals, yet without a donkey a family cannot function.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Children in Darfur have no toys. This picture was taken in north Sudan, a small boy proudly showing his homemade truck.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

This little girl looks as if she is six months old. In fact, she is 18 months. Another victim of the drought in Darfur.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Kids for Kids donkey owners have to agree that foals may not be ridden, even by small children, for two years. This enables the animals to grow with healthy strong legs, making them much stronger and faster. The children's shepherds committees make sure the rules work.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

This two-year-old boy cannot support his head. Aid to Darfur is concentrated on the camps. These children are part of the two-thirds of the population who live in the villages where there is no help from the international community.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Watercarts, pulled by crossbred donkeys, are one way to help villagers who live miles from the nearest watersource.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids

Kids for Kids founder Patricia Parker presents Hanuna with a cup and a certificate to congratulate her for her example to other Kids for Kids' goat loan beneficiaries. By worming the animals regularly and making sure they eat the right things, Hanuna is now able to send all her six children to school every day, and has milk left over to provide yoghurt for her neighbours.
Photograph: Patricia Parker/Kids for Kids