Near East Foundation

People We Serve

Community Profile: Dar Es-Salaam

Dar Es-Salaam is a community of approximately 40,000 people who occupy an isolated and difficult-to-reach area 40 kilometers from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. Members of the community have come from all the country’s regions– primarily South Kordofan and Darfur in the west and Equatorial in the south – over the past several decades, fleeing widespread violence and destruction. They were granted access to land in the Dar Es-Salaam area by the Sudanese government. Despite their regional and ethnic diversity—and to the credit of their leaders—both longstanding and newer residents have been able to work together to secure basic services and improve their livelihoods. Many now own the plots on which they live and work.

More than 60 percent of the adult males in Dar Es-Salaam are unemployed, and the majority of these are illiterate. Most men and boys work as unskilled laborers for hire in the city. A very few are semi-skilled in fields such as brick making, baking, construction, and animal husbandry. The vast majority of women and girls are illiterate. Women tend to engage in home-based income-generating activities when they can afford the basic capital required to establish them.

The health of Dar Es-Salaam residents is particularly precarious. Malaria, yellow fever, and parasitic infections are widespread, as are sexually transmitted diseases. HIV/AIDS is a growing concern. Malnutrition is also a constant problem, particularly among infants, young children, and pregnant women. Infant and maternal mortality rates are unusually high even among African countries; in 2005 infant mortality rates were 62.0 per 1,000 live births, and the maternal mortality ratio 59 per 10,000 live births. Health awareness is weak among residents, almost all of whom come from rural and nomadic communities.

Water is brought in tanks by donkey carts; other utilities, such as electricity, are nonexistent in many areas. The local government does not provide garbage collection or healthcare to the residents. Basic education is available only to those few able to pay. Before NEF built a healthcare clinic in al-Rabwa, the nearest medical facility was 15 kilometers away; the nearest elementary school, a government-run facility, is also located outside the community. These services are poorly maintained and unaffordable even for a majority of those residents able to reach them.

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