Children living through a humanitarian crisis, like those at Dereig refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan, need a safe place to be kids. World Vision’s child-friendly spaces, funded in part by Gift Catalogue shoppers, provide a place where they can play, learn and recapture some of their lost childhood. Photo Credit: Jon Warren/World Vision.

DEREIG, DARFUR, Sudan - Sporting a yellow jersey emblazoned with the name of soccer star Ronaldo, Abdullah Osaman is hard to miss inside Dereig refugee camp.

The 12-year-old is a celebrity here, weaving soccer balls back and forth with a dexterity that rivals his footballer heroes.

And when it comes to perseverance, Ronaldo has nothing on Abdullah.

Fatima, Abdullah's nine-year-old sister, explains that she and her brother lost their father during a 2005 raid by pro-government Arab militias.

"When the attackers came, our men sent us [women and children] away to safety and they remained in the village to fight off the militias. My father died in the fighting."

Bleak and treeless, Dereig is now home to thousands like Abdullah and Fatima -refugees from the conflict in Darfur that's killed an estimated 200,000 people, and orphaned, widowed and displaced millions more.

Yet, amidst the sea of gloom, the children are proving to be islands of hope. Many are piecing together what was left of their lives with amazing fortitude - as well as support from humanitarian organizations.

World Vision runs two child-friendly spaces at Dereig. These centres, funded in part by Gift Catalogue shoppers, give Abdullah, Fatima and other children living in the refugee camp safe places in which to play, learn and receive psychosocial support.

Abdullah and Fatima turn up at the centre every day, trickling in around 8:00 a.m. to play soccer and skip rope before heading to classes. The school day ends at 1:00 p.m., and they usually enjoy more fun and games before heading back to their plastic tent.

Fatima says the centre is her favourite spot in the camp - a place where she can make friends and gain an education. She loves the classes, pointing out that she didn't know how to read or write before coming to the camp. Back in her village, she explains, "the school was too far from our home" for her to go.

Determined to succeed in school, she reviews her class work every day in her tent. Her favourite subject is English, which she hopes to teach someday to a class of her own.

Abdullah and Fatima's 10-year-old sister, Hawa, has also reclaimed her childhood at the centre. A deaf mute, she was brutally molested during the same 2005 attack in which her father was killed.

For many months, Hawa stayed inside the family's ramshackle dwelling - made of sticks, gunny sacks and plastic sheeting - while her siblings went to the centre. "I thought she would never benefit from the centre because she cannot talk nor hear anything," says her mother, Haja. "Then I changed my mind."

Buoyed by the change she saw in her other children, Haja eventually allowed Hawa to go to the centre with her siblings. It's opened up a whole new world for the traumatized girl.

Hawa now breaks into smiles whenever she's skipping rope at the centre. She even joins in classroom singalongs, doing her best to voice the lyrics and keep in sync with the gestures and actions.

Abdullah and Fatima look out for her at all times. "I know how to communicate with her in sign language," says Fatima, "so I assist her."

As a result of such resilience - and the generosity of Canadians - the Osaman children seem poised to defy the odds in the endurance test that is Darfur.

For more information on how you can subsidize child-friendly spaces ($75) for children living through a humanitarian crisis, go to www.worldvision.ca

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