CHARITY workers from Nelson have returned from relief work in conflict-torn Sudan.

Mohammad Razaque and Mohammed Anwar from Muslim Global Relief spent a week finding out the extent of suffering in the Darfur region and supervising distribution of food parcels to refugees.

While they were there they met a woman called Sakina who had arrived at Zamzam camp with her eight children after witnessing her husband's murder. She had been spared because she was pregnant.

Mr Razaque said: "It was the rainy season in Darfur so Sakina told us of her 57km trek on foot to the Zamzam camp and how she made a sort of shelter for her children.

"Her hut was made of intertwined branches and twigs with no material to shelter her family from the rain or sandstorms.

"It was remarkable to see her able to smile even through she had lost everything, including her young husband."

Later in their journey, the workers visited Sakina's home town of Al-Fashir which had been razed to the ground.

There has been tension in the region since 2003 and more than a million people have fled their homes while up to 50,000 have been killed.

There is not enough food, water or medicine in the refugee camps and The United Nations has said the situation is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

After Zamzam the two aid workers went to Abshoke camp a few miles away where 50,000 refugees live in tents. Mr Razaque said: "Refugees were settled to such a degree in this camp that entire streets had formed.

"People were even trading at this camp, buying and selling pulses, fresh meat and various other items. I suppose this activity brought a sense of normality amongst the lives of the refugees."

Finally, the pair arrived at a village called Salablaaba on the outskirts of Taweela camp where they distributed the 250 sacks of grain, rice and sugar they had taken with them. They also took Muslim Global Relief T-shirts and footballs. Mr Razaque said: "A large mass of women and young children greeted us with delight and prayers in Arabic. Many women were carrying suckling babies on their backs and had come back to the village in an attempt to rebuild their lives.

"The children were overjoyed by the footballs and started to kick them around straight away. For a brief moment we brought smiles to their faces."

To find out more about Muslim Global Relief contact 01282 604055.