Obituary - Hadja Ahmed Mohamed Medini

Hadja Ahmed Mohamed Medini

Hadja Ahmed worked on GOAL's emergency/ nutrition team in Golo, Jebel Marra, part of Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region.

On January 25 2006, Hadja was killed when a UN helicopter evacuating aid workers from Jebel Marra crashed. Earlier that week, Golo was attacked by the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), seeking to dislodge the government forces garrisoned in the town.

All aid agencies had to withdraw from Golo and GOAL has indefinitely suspended operations in the Jebel Marra region. GOAL continues to work from El-Fasher and in the Kutum area of north Darfur, running 9 clinics and supplying water-sanitation and supplementary feeding to IDP camps in the vicinity of Kutum town. Golo and the Jebel Marra has been a flashpoint area throughout Darfur's conflict. Lush, fertile mountain terrain mark the area out from much of Darfur, which is arid/semi-arid.

Hadja was married with one nine year old son and was from Jebel Mara. She joined GOAL in 2004, working on a 6-month contract initially, and by June 2005 was hired as a full-time member of the nutrition team.

Vivienne Alex is GOAL's Field Nutrition Manager in Sudan and knew Hadja well. She met Hadja's brother in Khartoum on February 22. She said that "they are still very sad. It is a great loss to the family. There were just 2 daughters - and Hadja is gone now."

She described her deceased colleague as "responsible, motivated, willing to learn about nutrition, and dedicated to helping her neighbours, friends in Jebel Marra and Darfur."

GOAL ran supplementary feeding programmes in 9 sites in Jebel Marra, working at various camps for internally-displaced people (IDPs). Hadja was at the forefront of this activity.

Alex described how Hadja was meticulous in her approach to peer education - teaching mothers with children under 5 as well as pregnant and lactating mothers how best to nourish their children in IDP camp conditions.

GOAL again takes this opportunity to offer our condolences to Hadja's husband, son and wider family. Her loss has been felt deeply and she will be sorely missed.