UNICEF helps children caught in crossfire in Sudan

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has left more than 70 per cent of health facilities unusable. UNICEF is working with partners to support the country’s struggling health system, providing life-saving care to children like 8-year-old Fatima.

By Proscovia Nakibuuka Mbonye

At Aljekaika hospital in northern Sudan, Samah looks helplessly at her daughter Fatima. Every now and then, she rubs her head to ease the pain, helps her sit up to get a sip of water, and wishes she could take her place. The eight-year-old lies on a hospital bed, restless, her eyes filled with fear.

A few days ago, she underwent surgery to remove a bullet lodged in her neck. The painful experience left her with deep fear and trauma. She panics and screams whenever her mother is out of sight.

Stuck in war-torn Khartoum

When the the war has begun, Samah did not leave her home in Omdurman, a few kilometres from Khartoum, Sudan. With limited resources and an uncertain future, she and her children remained behind, close to active fighting and all the challenges that decision brought.

“I had nowhere to go,” she said, pain in her voice and tears in her eyes.

Days and months passed, then a year, until recently, when the vulnerable family found themselves trapped in danger.

How it happened

On the fateful day, while the family was having breakfast, Fatima suddenly started screaming. Seconds later, she was on the ground, blood flowing from her ears. She had been hit by a stray bullet.

Panicked and unsure of what to do, Samah ran to her neighbors for help. They too were helpless, stuck in a city where most hospitals are not operational. The nearest facility could not provide the immediate help needed to save Fatima’s life.

Continued attacks on hospitals have left more than 70% of health facilities in Sudan out of service, with supplies running out and resupply difficult due to limited access.

Samah was eventually transferred to Aljekaika Hospital, a UNICEF-supported facility in Shendi. Dr Maria* (her last name has been withheld for privacy reasons) was part of the team that received Fatima. “They were both in distress. Fatima was suffering from headaches and intermittent blackouts,” the doctor said. “We provided all the resuscitation and preparation for the operation and were able to extract the bullet.”

Samah recalls: “Those were very difficult and long hours. I prayed to God to heal my daughter.”

Getting back on your feet slowly but painfully

After the operation, Fatima is recovering. But she will need counseling and rehabilitation to become the cheerful girl she once was – services the hospital will provide for free. “She is recovering, she can talk and walk, although she is still affected by the trauma,” says Dr. Maria.

Samah watches her daughter intently, her head bandaged, and remembers the good old days. “Fatima loved playing with dolls and teddy bears, and she also loved to draw,” she says. “She was a brilliant student from first to second grade. I hope the war will not deprive my daughter of all that.”

“Fatima loved playing with dolls and teddy bears, and she also loved drawing. She was a brilliant student from first to third grade. I hope the war did not rob my daughter of all that.”

As the war enters its second year, serious violations of children’s rights, including mutilation, continue to occur. Fatima is one of many who will live with similar scars for the rest of their lives.

“These events are heartbreaking,” says Dr. Maria. “To see an 8-year-old child, who should be playing and enjoying his childhood with his family, come to us in distress and crying in pain. We witness similar cases every day, but with different names.”

UNICEF works with partners to meet the needs of children in Sudan

As she waits for her daughter to recover, Samah holds tightly to the object that nearly took Fatima’s life. “Every time I see the bullet that hit my daughter’s head, I cry a lot and thank God for saving her,” she says.

Since the beginning of the war, UNICEF has supported the provision of health care and nutrition Essential medical supplies are being provided to Aljekaika Hospital, located approximately 90 kilometres northeast of Khartoum. These essential medical supplies are helping to provide health care services, including surgeries for the wounded in sensitive areas such as Khartoum.

“Every time I see the bullet that was in my daughter’s head, I cry a lot and thank God for saving her.”

The hospital reported a high workload in the various units, with an increase in surgical interventions. More than 200 cases related to gunshot wounds are registered each week; 25% of them concern children.

Thanks to the governments of Norway and Sweden, as well as humanitarian aid from the European Union (ECHO), UNICEF is able to provide support to children affected by armed conflict, including response interventions – physical recovery and rehabilitation – for vulnerable and at-risk children like Fatima.

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Learn more about how UNICEF is helping children in Sudan.

This story first appeared on unicef.org

Video edited by Tong Su for UNICEF USA.