Mariam Khamis Adam is huddled on the floor, using giant marker pens to draw a picture of her childhood memories.
"These are flowers," she says, "and this is the Janjaweed killing my older brother. This is my other brother, he ran from the house and survived. Later he died of illness."Like many children in the psychological treatment centre in Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad, Mariam was orphaned by the atrocities in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died since 2003.
Most refugees have horrific accounts of rape and murder by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia armed by Khartoum to help crush a non-Arab uprising seeking greater autonomy for Darfur.
The youngsters here may be quick to smile, but a glance through their drawings hints at their inner turmoil.
Alongside the occasional flower, there are repeated images of war: planes bombing villages, huts on fire, men with guns shooting women, attackers on horseback.
Asked how they felt drawing the pictures, every child gives an identical answer: "I felt angry."
Hollywood actress and rights activist Mia Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF, was visibly moved during her four-day visit to eastern Chad's refugee camps this week.
"I have drawers full of children's paintings -- I have 14 children," said Farrow. "They are full of suns and stars and stick people smiling. These are very different drawings.
"I'm looking at a head being shot off, I'm looking at attack helicopters, I'm looking at homes on fire.
"I think these pictures should be seen by everyone, lest with the passage of time anyone deny this happened, or how it happened. This is the purest documentation."
WANT WESTERN PEACEKEEPERS
It has been more than three years since the 230,000 Sudanese refugees who are living along Chad's eastern border with Darfur fled their homes, and their pain shows little sign of abating.
But many are optimistic that a new hybrid U.N.-African Union force, authorised by the U.N. Security Council last month, could be on its way to Darfur before the end of the year.
