Ache was born in Matadjana, in Chad's Wadi-Fira province. In the 1990s she migrated to Sudan where, until recently, she was a cattle farmer. Her family also owned a small convenience shop there, which helped them provide for their daughter and support some of their relatives on the other side of the border.

But their peace was up-ended when conflict broke out in Sudan six months ago. As the violence gradually spread across the country and drew close to her town, Ache only had one option: fleeing and returning "home".

'Avenues littered with corpses'

"Our village was stuck in the middle of the fighting," Ache recalls. "Our shop was looted, and whenever they were shooting heavy weapons, it always fell on us."

Terrified, she made the decision to leave, and embarked on an uncertain path to safety.

"We paid a driver 2,000 Sudanese pounds per person for the journey across the border into Chad," she says.

They drove for an entire day from El Geneina in Sudan, to Adré, in Eastern Chad, through destroyed villages, and sometimes through "avenues littered with corpses on both sides."

For weeks, Ache and her family sheltered in the Adré High School, which became the epicenter of the displacement crisis, hosting over 50,000 Chadian returnees, Sudanese refugees, and stranded third-country nationals at one point.

Like Ache and her family, most of the returnees from Sudan have settled in various locations across the Ouaddai, Sila, and Wadi-Fira provinces which make up some of the 1,400-kilometer-long border between Chad and Sudan.

A new shelter provided by IOM

With the support of the UN migration agency, IOM, Ache voluntarily relocated to Tongori, a community located about 20 kilometers away from the border, where the IOM and other humanitarian actors are developing transitional shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, as well as health and protection services, to help returnees reintegrate within communities.

Tongori is one of two communities in Eastern Chad where the IOM has begun carrying out these initiatives to transition out of the emergency response and provide the first steps towards the long-term integration of returnees. As part of these initiatives, IOM and humanitarian organizations built 1,000 transitional shelters, six water points, and 30 communal latrines to ensure people returning from Sudan can access clean water and sanitation.

The IOM and its partners are also supporting community leadership and protection mechanisms within these communities. In Tongori, Ache received a transitional shelter that offers some semblance of privacy and security while she awaits a longer-term housing solution.

"Whenever we heard a plane, we would duck and hide because we were scared. But here, we feel safe," she says.

Humanitarian response critically underfunded

"As the crisis in Sudan deepens and arrivals continue, we need to think about long-term solutions," says Jonathan Baker, who leads IOM's emergency response in Eastern Chad.

"Relocation from the border area is an essential first step to decongest hosting areas, and to ensure returnees are safe and have access to basic lifesaving infrastructures. When returnees arrive, host communities are kind enough to welcome them and share their food and resources with them," he explains.

As the situation continues, however, their prolonged stay risks stoking tensions with host communities who are already struggling to make ends meet due to a surge in prices of basic commodities. More must be done to invest in durable solutions that integrate health, education, livelihoods, and community-based protection mechanisms for returnees, as well as support for hosting neighboring villages.

However, the humanitarian response in Eastern Chad remains critically underfunded.

"Of the US$25 million we have requested, we have only received 6%, meaning that we've only been able to cover a fraction of the needs," Baker adds.

"If additional funding is not quickly secured, we risk facing a humanitarian catastrophe."