Djadah & Haleema, refugees in Chad: finding solidarity after the violence

Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A climate of extreme violence, particularly in the Darfur region, has plunged the population into an unbearable situation. Forced displacements, alarming food insecurity, atrocities against civilians... The humanitarian situation in Sudan is one of the most catastrophic in the world. Djadah Ali Ismail and Haleema Mohammad Ibrahim Abdullah both fled to eastern Chad to escape the violence. They are now supported by HI and are gradually regaining hope.

Fleeing the silence, whatever the cost

Djadah and Haleema are both from El-Geneïna in the west of Sudan's Darfur region. The town, which they left almost a year and a half ago, has been the scene of many extremely cruel and violent attacks since the start of the conflict.

Haleema will never forget the 10th of June 2023, when members of the RSF stormed her house and fired a bullet into her chest and another into her leg. Her mother, son and older brother were killed in the attack, as was her cousin who was shot dead in front of her as he hid in a barrel. The scenario was the same for Djadah, who was shot in the upper leg while carrying her baby on her back. Her family's house was attacked and ten of her relatives were killed. While trying to escape, she saw her husband shot in the head. As she fled with her baby, she lost sight of her other two sons, Nazar and Adam, in the panic. She hadn't found them by the time she left El-Geneïna.

A harrowing journey, a chaotic arrival in the refugee camps

Djadah was seriously injured and had to travel in a wheelbarrow most of the way to the border with Chad, helped by other people fleeing the violence and the occasional lift from passers-by. When she arrived, she was taken to a hospital specialising in the treatment of bone injuries in Abéché refugee camp. 

“After six weeks of treatment to heal my wound, by good fortune, I found my two boys! I was so happy that they had managed to get to Chad too”. 

Today she lives in Farchana refugee camp with her two sons and her baby. Despite the treatment she had received, her injury left her with a permanent disability and Djadah now has to walk with a cane.

Haleema’s escape was equally perilous. When she tried to leave EL-Genaïna, eight days after the attack, she found that the bullet wounds in her leg had become infected. Strangers helped her to evacuate, carrying her on a makeshift stretcher made from a bed frame. The group crossed valleys and wadis rendered dangerous by the rainy season, with water up to their waists at times. Haleema recounts:

“It was a terrible journey. I was in a lot of pain and desperately needed to see a doctor. My leg was beginning to rot and smelt bad...” 

Luckily, after several weeks on the road, a man with a horse and cart picked them up and drove them to the border. At the border crossing into Chad, Haleema was taken to the shade of a tree to rest for a while. Travelling along poor, potholed roads in a horse-drawn cart with a flat tire had worsened the pain... When it was time to cross the border, the cart driver tied two tree branches to each side of her leg to form a kind of splint and took her to the hospital in the town of Adré, the main entry point for Sudanese into Chad. This is where refugees are treated and registered before being directed to other refugee camps.

Haleema spent five months in Adré hospital before she too was able to move to the nearby Farchana camp. She remembers feeling confused, not really knowing where she was and the very difficult living conditions at the hospital: 

“There were so many people at the hospital... There was only one wheelchair for all the injured, so dozens of us had to share it. When we left, the hospital staff gave us rudimentary walking sticks. “ 

Djadah and Haleema experienced the traumas of war, physical and psychological pain and extreme precarity. But after a few weeks in the camp, the women met HI’s teams – an encounter that brought them relief, comfort and support along their road to recovery.

Finding comfort and passing it on to others

Both Djadah and Haleema are receiving physical therapy and mental health support from HI, which is vital to regaining their dignity and peace of mind. Djadah explains:

“In the rehabilitation sessions, HI helped restore my mobility. I’ve now rediscovered the pleasure of simple things. Just being able to go out and say hello to my neighbours has changed my life. I used to stay at home every day; now I can visit them and we can talk together." 

Haleema has also been given physical therapy treatment, including weight training, stretching and learning how to use walking sticks. She is particularly grateful to HI for the home sessions. She explains: 

“It has made a big difference having visits at home. My life, and those of all the other disabled people, would be very difficult without these HI sessions. Without them, I wouldn't be able to move with my injured leg.” 

As is often the case in conflict settings, it is important for survivors of extreme violence to be able to share their experiences and create a collective narrative to help them cope. Haleema testifies to the solidarity that she found when she shared her story with other people with disabilities. In her words: 

“HI’s psychosocial support sessions were in groups. Everyone was encouraged to think about how they would live the rest of their lives after a serious injury. We were able to share our ideas and thoughts to help us get through this situation together and move forward”.

Djadah, for her part, says that these discussion groups were also very important for her personal well-being. She remembers that when she first arrived in the camp, there was nothing, everyone was very stressed and she couldn't sleep at night. Little by little, the situation improved. 

With the conflict still raging in neighbouring Sudan, many people are still crossing the border into Chad to seek refuge. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), almost 764,000 refugees have arrived in Chad since the conflict began in April 2023, most of them women and children. To help them, Haleema wants to share what she has learned: 

“We came to the HI centre to receive support for ourselves, but HI also taught us how to share the information we are given with other people who can't make it to the sessions. We talk to them to tell them to be patient, to help them try to forget what happened in Sudan. We tell them that we have suffered a lot too, just like them, that many people are in the same situation, and that they can talk to people who feel like them.”