El Sereif is a town in Darfur, Sudan, where its population has dramatically increased ten times in the last four months. Earlier this year, terrible clashes over gold mines between two rival tribes (Benihussein and Abbala) caused a hundred dead people and over one hundred thousand displaced persons (IDP). Many of them ended up in this small town that is now saturated.
The hospital, which was reopened due to the flood of displaced persons with a single doctor, assists every day an average of 300 patients. A serious outbreak of malaria and hepatitis is destroying the lives of many of them, as well as babies born prematurely or with serious symptoms of malnutrition.
While following the failed attempts of reconciliation between the two tribes, the health status of this community is quite critical. I was there last Monday to photograph these victims and attempting to publicly report a situation that is happening too often in Darfur without many attempts to solve it. But for some people, “this is no longer news.”
Sure. The misery of the two million IDPs in Darfur dates back to many years ago (more than ten) that many no longer worth pursuing commenting it. “If in Darfur every day people die for lack of medical attention, dehydration or poor nutrition, what is the fresh news then?”, they say. Sure. Let them die on the backs of the public opinion, because it has become absolutely normal for our consciences.
So what’s the next? Do photojournalists need to elaborate new stories to attract attention? Or maybe we should all make some effort to pay attention to the misfortunes unfortunately repeated? Or perhaps both?