Italian Jesuit targets disabled Sudanese in Chad refugee camps

Published: 2004-09-09

KOUNOUNGO REFUGEE CAMP, Chad (CNS) -- Among the hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees in northeastern Chad, an Italian priest has targeted those he considers the most vulnerable: the disabled. "These people have no voice; they have no rights, so we have to find how to help them," said Jesuit Father Franco Jacuzzi. Aid agencies sought out Father Jacuzzi and two other priests with Jesuit Refugee Service because of their knowledge of teaching. Since arriving in Chad's refugee camps in June, Father Jacuzzi shifted his focus from schools to disabled refugees. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which administers the camps, keeps no statistics on the disabled. Father Jacuzzi began taking a census of disabled people in the camps managed by Secadev, the Chadian Caritas office. The census is an exhausting task in which the priest is practically a one-man team. He relies on Secadev staff to point out areas of the camps where disabled Sudanese reside, but mostly he finds them on his own, by canvassing the miles-long camps on foot.

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