I met Andrew Pearse only a year before he died and then on only two occasions, but the inspiration for my work since that time has been drawn largely from those encounters. The first time he was addressing Oxford students at a meeting on 'development'. He challenged his audience to think how they could put the skills they were acquiring at University to the service of the poor, how research was one way to empower the powerless. I never had the opportunity to thank him, but he spared one long afternoon with me when he was already in pain from the illness which claimed him.

It was quite by chance that Ugandan refugees became the case study for this book. In order to examine the proposition, that it was the organization and delivery of emergency assistance which accounted for many of the problems observed later on, I needed to study an emergency influx. If the experiences of these refugees living in southern Sudan teach us any lessons on how funds and other resources might be better used, then all refugees will join me in thanking them for co-operating, usually very willingly. Very few held any illusions that this research was going to relieve their personal sufferings.

I also want to thank the Saharawi refugees, living in tents near Tindouf, Algeria, for first demonstrating that it is possible to use the experiences in exile to transform a society as long as those who assist them do not remove from them the authority to do so. I thank Malcolm Harper, then working at OXFAM, for stimulating my thinking along these lines.

I first began to learn about the special problems of refugees in 1956-7 when I was working for the Church Federation, Los Angeles, resettling Hungarians. I thank Bela in particular. His long and bitter sufferings in the US taught me that being removed, without choice, from home and family can never be fully compensated.

Anyone who has lived in the Sudan will appreciate how impossible it is to properly express one's gratitude for the warmth and hospitality they offer. Where else can one not be surprised to hear a taxi driver respond. 'Whatever you wish', to the question, 'How much?'. It is not by chance that the Sudan has such a liberal, open-door policy towards those who flood across its borders. It is a way of life in the Sudan. I thank them as a people and as individuals for the continued kindness they proffer everyone. I cannot begin to name all who helped me with this research, but they include the staff of the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees in Khartoum, Gedaref, Port Sudan, en Showak, Juba, and Yei. They opened their files, provided transport, housed, fed, and once even clothed me and, most important, taught me a great deal from the perspective of the hosts. Karen Abu Zayd, in addition to all of the other help she gave, took time to criticize earlier drafts of some chapters.

The Overseas Development Administration funded my fellowship at Queen Elizabeth House. The Wenner Gren Foundation and the Universities Field Staff International also contributed to the costs of the fieldwork. A Fellowship from the Institute for the World Study of Politics funded some of the costs of writing. I thank them all. I also thank Mr. Jan Heidler and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Mr. Heidler arranged a UN travel document and guaranteed access to the field. It would have been difficult if not impossible to have conducted this research without such support and access to data. I am also grateful to those others within UNHCR, both in the Sudan and in Geneva, who appreciated the importance of an independent evaluation of their assistance programme.

I was more than fortunate to find Mr. Sjoerd van Schooneveld as the programme officer organizing the emergency assistance programme I wanted to study. l believe there are many who share my view that it was one of the best field operations. I think, however, that he would agree with me that it could not have been done so well had it not been for Nehemiah Iyega, the project manager, and Monique.

My most immediate intellectual debts, after Andrew Pearse, are to Robert Chambers and Ahmed Karadawi. Before them, of course, was a long line of anthropologists who belong to what is perhaps the most humanistic of all disciplines. Some may argue the history of anthropology is one of complicity with imperialism, but today the problems facing populations which are suddenly forced to cohabit an area against their will cry out for the skills of, and the information that can be generated by, anthropologists. Any attempts to assist such communities without applying the anthropological approach are unnecessarily handicapped. One hopes that more anthropologists will see their relevance to such crisis situations as arise as a result of forced migration. There is an urgent need to provide local communities with information about each other's cultures as well as to inform the agency personnel who are working among them.

So many people helped in the collection of data used in this book that the only reason my name appears as author is that I must bear the final responsibility for the interpretation. Many 'stranded' students, young people whose education had been interrupted by the war, helped at different times. The team of assistants include Atima Ayoub, Adile Sakia Bornfree, Aluma Brahan, Tom Andima Dradria, Gabriel Dramundria, Agalla Emanuel, Lali Ferdinand, Onzima George, Data Charles Male, Johnson Oryema, Philip Ramaga, Atali Restito, Bua Guido, John Twagirayesu, and Aluma Ponziano. The names of others appear throughout the book, but I especially thank John Issa. The Oxford University students, whose work is cited, went to southern Sudan in 1984 to follow up on my research. I learned a great deal from them and the discussions we have had played a part in the development of this book.

Many people read through parts of the manuscript and gave advice, but I especially thank Dr. Julie Marcus and Belinda Allan. I have received guidance in the analysis of the statistical data from Paul Griffiths, but most of the work was done by David Brunswick who deserves special mention, not only for working long hours, but for taking a serious interest in what we were learning from the data. Professor Howard Adelman was enormously helpful in suggesting how to organize the book. Rita Giwa, not only typed and retyped drafts, but, as she has done for all of my writing over the past ten years, suggested improvements in both style and content. So many others helped with typing final drafts. I thank Greta Ilott, Fiona Frank, Jane Higgens and Maggie Corson. I thank my husband, Dr. Samuel Nwafor Okeke, and all the other members of our household for their love and forebearance. Completing the research and writing required the abandonment of my domestic duties, as well as long absences from Oxford. I am grateful to Oxford University Press who, recognizing the timeliness of this book, have produced it in record time.