The boy was thrown into the fire and left to die by Janjaweed fighters in Sudan’s bedevilled Darfur province.
But 12-year-old Rachid Dahiye Zakaria survived. Then, badly disfigured, he walked for days to a refugee camp across the border in Chad with his sole remaining relatives — a grandmother and a sister.
For months now he has been awaiting surgery that would at least allow him to do the simplest tasks alone, such as dressing. Such surgery is available in only a handful of African countries.
Everything was prepared: South Africa’s Children of Fire charity was organising surgery and the South African government agreed to allow Rachid and his grandmother into the country, even though they have no identity papers. Children of Fire even found a speaker of Massalit, the boy’s native language, to translate.
Then everything went awry. Bronwen Jones, the Englishwoman who founded Children of Fire in South Africa, said Chadian officials suddenly became wary of foreign offers of help, and she links the cooler attitude to the activities of a group with which she had nothing to do, a French charity called Zoe’s Ark.
In late October, Zoe’s Ark tried to fly from Chad to France 103 children that it called Darfur orphans. Chadian officials stopped the flight, and aid workers and other officials say many of the children are Chadians, with relatives. Six Zoe’s Ark workers were arrested and are on trial for kidnapping in Chad.
International aid workers say their already difficult job along Darfur’s border has been complicated by the task of helping reunite families separated in the Zoe’s Ark affair, and by the suspicion with which some Chadians now view all foreigners professing to have come to help.
While Zoe’s Ark’s motives appear humanitarian, the repercussions have been widespread. Days after the Zoe’s Ark workers were arrested, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it was suspending all international adoptions, saying it was prompted by the events in Chad. The suspension is still in place.
Children of Fire believes it is among the groups feeling Zoe’s Ark ripples.
”The Chadian government is afraid to let Rachid go in case they are accused of allowing him to be kidnapped,” Jones said.
Chadian Embassy officials in South Africa did not return calls seeking comment, and attempts to reach officials in Chad were not immediately successful.
Jones said the boy’s worst injury appears to be an arm twisted by burn scars behind his back, the elbow and hand at awkward angles.
Jones said Rachid would need at least three major operations, with six-month recovery periods after each.
She heard about Rachid from an article in a British newspaper. Since then, Britons have donated about £10 000 toward Rachid’s operations, she said.
They likely will cost more. But that does not bother Jones, who has the air of someone who gets their own way, no matter what. She is pursuing Rachid’s case with Chadian officials.
”There have just been endless emails going back and forth,” she said. — Sapa-AP