2023-05-19 10:00:00
The scenes that I have seen these last weeks from my window in Sudan are difficult to comprehend. The streets that were once a route to walk with my family are now battlefields.
A month has passed since the outbreak of violence, but it seems like an eternity. I never thought that I would be responding to a humanitarian emergency of this scale in my own country, let alone in my own backyard, in Khartoum.
My neighbors fled 48 hours after artillery and shelling damaged their home. I stayed in Khartoum for another week, convinced that we could be safe by sheltering in our house. But when a missile landed nearby, I knew the violence had escalated to the point where staying was no longer an option for my family.
We packed everything up as fast as we could and fled to a city two and a half hours away. During our evacuation, I saw escaped prisoners walking the streets, stores looted, and warplanes bombing the neighborhoods below.
Escaping Khartoum was not easy for anyone in my family, especially my two-year-old son and my pregnant wife. We went out with my brother and my two grandmothers; one of them is in a wheelchair and the other is running out of heart medication. We do not know when the next time we will be able to have another prescription will be since he only had 10 days of medication.
Medicines are in short supply in the country with hospitals and health clinics looted on a daily basis.e, and this leaves millions of people without life-saving medical supplies. Even before the fighting, Sudan’s health system was struggling to keep up with the needs of its nearly 46 million people. Now the system is in shambles.
When fighting broke out in Khartoum on April 15, my son, who seemed fine at first, was terrified as the noises grew louder and more violent. Every sound of shots sowed terror in my house. At only two years old, my son knew something was wrong and he felt the need to run for safety. About 10 minutes later, I found him hiding under the bed.
On the one hand, I have tried to keep my loved ones safe and on the other to keep in touch with my colleagues at Save the Children, but it has been difficult as the Internet connection is frequently interrupted and communications are very irregular. My days have taken a sudden turn: as we make sure to reach the most vulnerable in Sudan, I have realized that we are now those people too.
More than 600 civilians, including some 190 children, have been killed in the past month. Millions of people take refuge without water, food or electricity. My family had only lentils to survive in Khartoum, but with our systems in shock, we could barely finish a meal.
In some areas of Sudan, the price of basic goods such as bottled water, food and cooking fuel have risen by 40-60%, making it extremely difficult for families who need it most. . Every time I go to the market here, the prices skyrocket once again.
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Having grown up in Sudan, and now an aid worker with Save the Children, I am no stranger to violence and riots, but this time is different. Decades of civil war have scarred our country, but nothing could have prepared me for the scale of destruction and chaos taking place right now.
Expired passports and expensive visas prevent us from escaping Sudan. For now all I can do is keep my family safe and hope we make it through together.
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