Tuesday evening saw old and new Cord supporters meet at the House of Commons at the special invite of Chris White MP who sits on the International Development Select Committee. The event was held to raise awareness of the increasing challenges facing refugees in Chad.

Ram Gidoomal, Chair of Traidcraft and respected philanthropist, gave a motivating speech which was well received by all. The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development was also there.

Cord has been working in Chad since 2004 when 250,000 refugees were forced to flee from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since then the Warwickshire-based charity has helped more than 100,000 people to rebuild their lives and currently has 35,000 children in regular education.

This year, Cord is also tackling scarcity of firewood for cooking which is increasingly leading to conflict between the indigenous Chadian community and the Sudanese refugees, threatening the balance of peace in the region. Revolutionary solar cookers and essential training are being delivered to nearly 16,000 people in the refugee camps.