Khartoum. 15th April 2023.
The blog picture was taken by my friend and roommate from the rooftop of my apartment building in Khartoum (Ryadth) in Sudan during the first days after the war in Sudan broke out. Ryadth was a neighbourhood very close to the airport, controlled by RSF most of the time but not yet (when I was there) playground for a heavy armed conflict.
What am I doing in Khartoum anyways? I am self-employed and working and living in Sudan I stayed in Khartoum now for 2 years, built up a home for myself and further a career in the Sudanese startup scene.
It feels like its been 4 month since we heard the first shooting and received tons of messages about the fact that fighting started. I did not share a lot about my location, what I was doing, where I am for my own and other people security, for my family and friends and also because I was not able to process what is happening.
Although I am still horrified about what is happening, worried about my friends and colleagues who are stuck somewhere or moving within Sudan and/or borders I need to let you part of this. I am in Addis now, still supporting and working for Sudan as much as I can and putting my thoughts into text for you. As media is powerful and can put pressure on governments to increase their support, please share as much as possible, I am going to share all footage of my experience.
The Night before.
It was a Friday, end of the week, most probably I slept very long this day. My cat was still recovering from a vet visit the night before. And I had so many things planned, that I was not sure what to do first. This weekend a great business fair was planned, trends vanity fair and I could see people getting tickets. I was already a bit sad cause I did not get a ticket for Friday, until a friend send me some amazing news! I might be able to join a Baitaloud concert! Baitaloud is a big international orchestra and choir that performs internationally. As they also have a branch in Khartoum, they performed the same night. The tickets were free and sold out in a second, already weeks before. I am not sure how but a friend arrange a last-minute ticket for me and I was super excited. So 14th April night, one day before war in Sudan broke out, I was chatting at the Nile, moving to the concert, sitting there, listening, enjoying and going home very happy. I think it was 1am when I reached home but the night was not over. My friends` brother passed by to hand me a key of her apartment when she comes back from vacation. And later my friend brought is luggage as he was moving in as a roommate. This was apparently the shortest roommate relationship that we bough would have. But at the same time it was helpful for both of us to have a friend around in such times.
When War Started.
I remember when I woke up, I heard some noice that could be identified as gunshots. I checked my phone and saw there was network and internet. So I assumed nothing can be wrong as the government usually shuts down internet when they are doing things against the citizen. So I went back to sleep. My estimation was wrong. Very likely this was gunshots. And they were going to be the background noise for the following 8 days.
Lockdown.
I did not leave the house at all when I was in Khartoum since the war broke out. My roommate went several time under very high risk to fill water, get food, buy drinking water or exchange money. As I experienced a coup in Sudan I knew that its mentally dangerous to sink in the horrifying news, I started a mental support initiative via whatsapp with the startup community in Khartoum I am working with. The group is called Coping@sudan and we offered online painting, sports, music, meditation online sessions as well as links and videos for yoga, relaxation, music. To coordinate that shaped my day a little bit. Also with the friends circle we tried to support each other, met for online games and checked on each other. It was very easy to drone into the phone: checking on people, reading news, watching videos about how Khartoum is being battled and destroyed and communicating with people from home how the situation is and that I am fine. I tried to force smartphone breaks once in a while, so that we do not get insane. In the beginning I was very optimistic it will stop in a a couple of days. But after a while I also started to analyse the situation, reading more background information and asked Sudanese friends about their opinion. In case you wanna keep up to date, I can recommend the following instagram accounts: @project.taghyir @sudapreneur @thesudanpage @aljazeeraenglish @bsonblast @womenofsudan
Besides my roommate who would take care of supplies, my gratitudes go to Babiker! Babiker worked in the kiosk downstairs and would open for neighbors to get food and water if there was a calm hour. He was an angel for us as we were not able to survive for so long without his supply and support. All in all we were 3 days without electricity and 2 days without water. So we were lucky in comparison to many other households in khartoum, omdurman and bahri.
Evacuation Preps.
Despite the fact that the German crisis team did send very vage security emails at the beginning, evacuation was a topic. We knew that UN was preparing and some other countries informed their citizen. Also every day I knew about a Sudanese family of my friends who left Khartoum State.
The first time I thought about leaving was after a phone call with my friends. They said they are thinking to go to Gedaref (East Sudan). This is when the thinking started and, to be honest, also my mental health went downwards. Leaving the home that you built yourself is not easy. Leaving also meant leaving the house, the so far safe space during an armed conflict. Leaving indicates also the decision of what to take and what to leave. Leaving did not mean that we knew exactly what was the plan after leaving Khartoum. For me as a German citizen its certain, for Sudanese or other nationalities who can not return to their home countries, it’s uncertain. For sure this affects the decision of leaving highly.
When the decision was made that I will follow my friends to Gedaref, I started organising my apartment. I packed one bag and I prepared my cats for travelling. Now, what to do with the remaining? My roommate had the idea to separate the rest strategically. As you should never loose hope, we organized the flat as if us or the owners will be able to return there one day. We put the bags with things we would not be too sad if they were stolen obviously in the rooms. And we hide the more important bags under bed in the wodden construction. In preparation of leaving we changed money with Babiker, our kiosk hero downstairs and waited for my Sudanese friends and others that we consulted to give greenlight to go.
There were people asking why I did not join the German evacuation. Despite the fact that I felt pressured with this question, I can assure everyone that I discussed and thought about every step I make very sorely. First of all, I witnessed via the news that evacuation konvois were a target for RSF, two have been attacked by that time already. Not only konvois, also hotels and residencies where foreigners lives were attacked strategically. So I already did not have a good feeling joining any international konvoi. Secondly, and I am saying this now with still a very high gratitude to Germany at least trying to do their best: the German response to that crisis, as well as the last one when the military coup happened was not helpful at all. With Germany having such a big presence with GIZ and Goethe institute and many projects in Sudan, it should be prepared of a proper evacuation communication to German passport holders in case of emergency. The emails I received were very vage and until the very last end, it was not communicated well when and how an evacuation would take place. The moment you were informed, the options of actually being evacuated seemed very limited to people who are able to move with a protected car or are under supervision of an organisation that can support. If you get the information that you should come yourself to a military airport that is north of the main fighting area, what would you do? It was never an option for me the moment I knew about that evacuation instructions. Yes, I understand, it is dangerous to pick up people. But at least offer some alternatives. Check whether people have their passports, whether they need any additional documents, whether they can be linked with each other to move together, connect individuals with organisations who are evacuating their staff, communicate with option to get on a list with UN evacuation. There could have been many options to support a person who is surprisingly stuck in their home in the middle of a war. While I am typing this, I am getting angry. And while I witness myself getting angry I also realise and appreciate that fact that I am still very privileged and that that country I come from makes me able to leave to many other countries, the country I come from tries to support. Syrian, Eritrean, Sudanese, Ethiopian from the Tigray Region, South Sudanese – it is no nationality that you can count on in emergency cause their governments are already kicking the people with their feed.
Out of Khartoum.
The first 5 minutes of this self-evacuation could have been the last 5 minutes. My friends stopped in front of my apartment building, we put the bags in the back of the car, i went in, sit, turned around and saw 2 armed jeeps with paramilitary soldiers. “Thats it” was probably the common thought in our minds. They asked a lot of questions, checked our documents, looked in the back of the car and let us go. The following 45 minutes no one spoke a word. We headed south. We went sometimes into smaller streets to ask the people about the way ahead, where it’s safe to go. After 1 hour we saw some 4×4 cars driving in a konvoi and we thought we are behind the UN konvoi which gave us a little bit of relief. At the end it was just NGO konvois but still, sometime the believe counts. After one hour we stopped to get fuel: 80.000 sdg for 4 gallons, insanely expensive.
The following 2hours I read a book out loud to distract our thoughts and I guess the first real relief but also confusion came when we reached Medani. Everything seems normal here, market is open, people walk around. They provide also water and bread to people in the car for free and send us greetings and wishes. I feel heartwarming and heartbroken at the same time. This is the country I am forced to leave. From Medani to Gedaref it’s another 2 to 3 hours, we arrived in the afternoon. Street were super busy, the city was full of life. It was so confusing. The family of my friend welcomed us, we get juice and water. The family is happy and relieved to see his son. They show me a room where I can let my cats out. I sit on the bed and cry. All tension falls off, its finally safe but its also unknown. It becomes real that khartoum is the past. And that I need to think about the next steps.
Gedaref.
Luckily Gedaref is already my home. I worked there in 2018, so it did not feel like an unknown strange place. Also the family of my friend made it very comfortable for me, treating me with delicious food and fresh juices all day long. I went to see friends and it felt very strange to suddenly sit in a cafe outside and chatting. Sudan is a huge country by size and the war outbreak happened mainly in Khartoum, Kordofan and Darfur state. So people in Geraref follow it on TV and receiving and supporting incoming people from the capital city. Same country but different perspective.
Arriving in Gedaref, one topic got my attention: there is a huge problem for people to access their money. As banks are closed, internet is not working properly and no one was prepared for this war, many people in Khartoum did not have enough cash at home and the online banking system barely worked. Especially the electricity or phone charging credit systems were completely off. As I had some cash with me and I was about to leave sudan, I decided to try to make use of this money. I started transferring some money over the local bank app that worked from time to time. After that we discovered that one telecommunication network (MTN) provided mobile money and the function to buy electricity, so we did that for some startups, together with my colleagues. We also got some phone credit vouchers, so we were able to send people the scratched codes to charge their phones. Simultaneously I started a fundraiser in Germany to collect more money. When the first 24h Brough already 2000€ I knew this is a chance. I continue with this until today.
One day in Gedaref, Abdo, the brother of my friend, called me. He informed me that him and his friends are buying supplies for more than 150 non-sudanese arriving in gedaref by bus the same day. Most of the people already found refuge in Sudan because their countries are not safe either. Rana, a Sudanese student, coordinated the support there, she introduced me to Ethiopian students. They flew from Ethiopia as the government committed genocide against Tigray. They settled in Sudan and managed to make themselves a new home. Now they are again forced to leave. This is the case for Syrian as well as Somali and Eritrean as we are going to experience at the border ourselves.
The fundraising and fund delivering as well as planning my own evacuation took a lot of my time in Gedaref. I took another useless try to seek support from the german foreign ministry & the embassy in Khartoum, before I decided for the self-evaluation to Addis.
To the border.
The journey to finally escape violence in Sudan started already heavy and it would not end better. The street was insanely horrible and my cat Ruby was nonstop screaming. When we arrived at the border after 4 hours it was very confusing. Many cars, busses, people, donkeys and no clear signs where to go. People were quite harsh and only let me and my friend enter into the visa office at Sudanese side. At this day the processing for Sudanese stopped completely and too many are at Ethiopian side. Our Sudanese friend still went with us to the border area (between Sudan and Ethiopia) to see his chances and get information.
During the 2 days at the border I witnessed the difference in treatment according to your nationality, skin color, social class and corruption many times. I got so mad seeing how me as a German citizen, people paying money behind the door and people coming with international organizations always came first and thus pushed everyone else back in the queue. People with special case or a nationality that Ethiopia does not “like” were not even close to be listened to. And still are.
When we stayed (and slept) at the border, it was quite basic, very slow, in efficient and not equipped to stay there more than a couple of hours. Today there is small mobile clinic and non-food items are distributed. #iom #icrc #redcross and #msf are supporting. The immigration officers were trained and equipped, so the passport and visa process got a little bit more fast. Currently around 1000 people are crossing the border. The hygiene is getting worse, many flies and bad smell. There are 3 “toilets”. There is water and food but its limited and costly. Someone who works at the mobile clinic told me that the medical cases that are coming in are very divers. You can find anything from a mother who is delivering to diabetic shocks until cancer patients who did not receive treatment for about 2 weeks.
Currently, the process for Sudanese is working. If you have a valid passport and an evisa for ethiopia or visa/residency for another country, they dont make your troubles. For all other cases they are using their power and absense of protective humanitarian assistance and deal with it case by case. So some people are successful, some not. For Sudanese citizen, I collected all information to cross the border informed and prepared in a post on instagram under @resbloggt
For Eritrean, Egyptian, Tigrayan and Syrian it is almost impossible to cross the border. UNHCR is preparing refugee camps and transportation for people who register as refugees at the border or have been registered as refugees before. The circumstances under which the people who fall under this group need to stay afterwards are of course nothing anyone could wish for.
Leaving the border to Addis.
If you check the map, you can see that from Metema its quite a trip to Addis. If you check Security advise for this region, you can see that it is politically not the safest region as well. Luckily the border people consider that already and they organise military accompanied konvois to the next biggest city #gondar.
Leaving was taugh. From Khartoum. From Gedaref. Now it was not about the place, it was about leaving a friend behind. As you read in many of my stories my friend Salam was not allowed to cross. The moment I had someone to take me to Gondar my other Sudanese friend was lost. He is a doctor, so he took care of someone with a diabtic shock. Ruby was nervous. It was hectic and frightening and not easy. Eventually we were outside of the border area and suddenly there was a problem with our transportation and we were told we would not be able to leave tonight. I was super mad and convinced them to get on one of the konvoi buses. The moment we discussed the konvoi started moving and we panicked. Someone recognized and luckuily one of the last konvoi busses stopped and we jumped in. We drove 5h arriving in the dark and with rain after a dozen of military checkpoints and a stunning mountain scene that I was not able to enjoy. Luckily my friend booked a hostel for us, so the bus driver dropped us nearby. As many other people did not have an ethiopian simcard, internet does not work in gondar and they had no Hotel reservation, they followed us and were able to get a room or bed as well. Despite power cut, one cold Shower and toilet for all, I felt a bit reliefed, especially when we managed to reserve a flight ticket for the next day. And also ruby was able to be released from her bag.
The next day we went to a hotel where they had wifi and tried to organize our further trip. It was complicated cause people try to take benefit from this and try to squeeze all money out of you, exchanging money is a challenge and booking flights and others is not easy. We were very Lucky to have an ethiopian friend of a friend who helped us.
The flight was smooth, ruby was calm in her first flight and we arrived well.
Addis.
I stayed in Addis for 3.5 weeks, mainly inside my friends flat and communicating and coordinating with people who want to flee via Ethiopia or the funds that we raised. The first 5 days I was still in shock I think but now its getting better. There are some people that I know from Sudan who are also here, so I am meeting familiar faces from time to time, besides I am living with my close Sudanese friend and her family, so eating Sudanese food and listening to Sudanese Arabic never stopped. If there was not rain and 20 degree less, I could imagine being still in Sudan. Probably this is what is keeping me up. Since some colleagues came to Addis, i got motivated to work again for 249startups as we want to see how to sustain the business, check on the staff and on all business owners. Its a rewarding work for me but it requires also more energy than usual. I suppose the evacuation and war experience is still under my skin
Ruby is my best buddy these times. She is also the reason for my extended stay here. Preparing a cat to travel to Europe requires lot of steps and waiting time.
Today.
I arrived in Germany 3 days ago. With my cat. We are both fine. I continue my work with 249Startups in part-time and I continue with my voluntary initiatives.
If you want to be part of my work, please reach out to me. I have some options for you:
- Sign the petition for helping Sudanese to get their documents and flee Sudan:
- Share job posts and link Sudanese with people who hire on Linkedin.
- Donate to one of my fundraisers. This is the current one for Sudanese NGOs to my birthday.
- Follow the pages who provide information about Sudan, share and like posts about Sudan.
- Help me with making posts, collecting funds, translating into arabic. Contact me.
resbloggt.com 