In amongst the dirt and depravation of Darfur, the simplest of things can often remind you of how unjust the world can sometimes be.

Sitting up against the outside wicker wall of an aid centre in what is one of the most deprived camps in the region, I watched a little girl - no older than 10 - wash and feed her two younger brothers.

A strong wind blew sand into her face as she tried to calm her youngest brother from crying and wipe the thick yellow pus from his eyes where they had become infected. Around her lay heaps of rubbish, plastic bags and ripped cardboard boxes, the people in the camp use to build shelters.

Just metres away a small boy was crouched, excreting on the ground. Many of the latrines are now too full or in too bad a state to use.

The little girl's resilience was awe-inspiring. At such a young age she has strength beyond conception.

Camp Otash is home for the moment to up to 60,000 people who have fled their villages throughout Darfur. Over the last week the United Nations estimates the camp has taken in 700 new arrivals. In the last two months, some 20,000 people have come to find refuge here. It is quickly becoming one of the biggest camps in Darfur and one of the most destitute.

Food is in short supply. Water supplies are thought to be contaminated, since there have been numerous cases of jaundice. Living conditions are deplorable, with very little shelter, especially for the new arrivals. And with the temperatures now dropping dramatically at night countless people have been suffering from serious respiratory illnesses.

Aid distributions are troublesome in the camp, and it's been difficult for agencies to identify what people need the most. Last month the U.N World Food Programme cut food rations by half because they suspected outsiders were coming into the camp and benefiting from the handouts. Sheikhs at the camp say the withdrawal of food has left hundreds going hungry when malnourishment is already causing serious problems.

Sometimes though, in amongst all the fact and figures, the reports and analysis, and the politics behind what the U.N. describes as "the world's worst humanitarian disaster", it is easy to forget that behind the words and numbers are human beings suffering in sickeningly inhuman conditions.

The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people have been displaced and around 200,000 killed since the start of the conflict in early 2003.

As I left the camp, I couldn't help but wonder what the little girl would be doing that night. How will she be keeping herself and her brothers warm as the wind blows through her twig-and-rag tent?

On the short drive back into the town of Nyala, the driver was playing an old Bob Dylan tape, and the lyrics of the 1960s anthem "Blowing in the Wind" seemed bizarrely relevant to Darfur.

"How many times must the cannon balls fly before they are forever banned? How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see?" the cassette warbled. "How many deaths will it take before he knows that too many people have died?"

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.