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 Mike Thomson
They come in their thousands day after dayÌý
fleeing over Chad's border from Sudan. Some have brought donkeys and cattle and knotted sacks for their meagre possessions.
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Refugee Howa Tarbei.
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Three year old girl on a drip waiting to go to hospital.
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Young mother with 5 kids forced to flee her home.
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The rains are coming.
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The camp like many others here are is bursting at the seams. But these people and the rest of the 180,000 estimated refugees that fled to Chad could be described as the lucky ones.
For over the border in SudanÌýabout 800,000 others - mainly black African people from Darfur are homeless. Forced from their homes by Arab militia gangs in what's thought to be an orchestrated act of ethnic cleansing supported by the government of Sudan. It's a charge the Khartoum government strongly denies.
However the camps of refugees told me they saw Sudanese soldiers and planes helping Arab horsemen drive them from their villages. Many of those who fled are now forced to live in displaced persons camps in Darfur - some of them run by the very militia that killed their friends and relatives.
You'd have thought after suffering so much these people would have they sympathy of us all and our financial support - after all - the United Nations has described this as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
It seems however, that this is not the case theÌýDeputy Representative in Chad for UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, told me that the response so far to appeals has been disappointing.
When I asked him if he thinks the world understands the true horror of what is happening hereÌý he replied: "No - I don't think that's been recognised and I think the world at large is now less ready to help those in need... These refugees are very far away from us and they don't represent a big problem to donor countries - so we neglect them unfortunately."
Such an attitude could not come at a worse time - seasonal rains are now on their way. When they arrive many of the dirt roads that are used to supply Chad's isolated refugee camps will be washed away - and when this happens the only way to get supplies to them will be by air. The trouble is this is very expensive and there are very few tarmac runways to accommodate the large planes needed.
The UN has described the relief operation here as a race against time - and so far - time is not on the side of the refugees.
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