For Othman and Idris, the choice of destination to flee the war was not just a coincidence, but stemmed from an emotional attachment to two places he had not seen before, but which remained etched in their minds. by the ethnic origins of the first and those of the second. connection with the story of his father.
Othman tells Sky News Arabia that he used to talk a lot to his children and grandchildren about the land of the ancestors, but hadn’t been able to take them to visit it before.
“Although I have always encouraged my family members to one day visit their ancestral home, I never imagined that fleeing war would bring them there,” he added.
Othman points out that despite the exceptional circumstances which forced his family to return to their original house, they were very well received by his family residing there, of whom they only knew a few who came from Khartoum, once a year. or every two years.
Othman expresses his great pride in what he has found in his fathers homeland and the vast amount of happiness that has overwhelmed the rest of the family. He explains: “More than two weeks have passed since our arrival in the village of the fathers. Everyone wants to celebrate us. They make sacrifices and hold banquets, rejoicing in our arrival. Othman says fleeing the war allowed his family to get to know their loved ones closely, after the relationship was only an audio one.
Heat in wartime
Like Othman, hundreds of thousands of residents of the capital, Khartoum, have chosen to return to their towns and regions of origin in the hope of waiting there in safety until they know what the things would become. by rural areas in Sudan.
Hussam told Sky News Arabia: “I have returned with my family to our village in the Jazira region, about 200 kilometers away. My children feel warmer after being released from the restrictions and exhaustion of the city. I used to visit my village every year during the holiday season, but I couldn’t imagine life there being much better than in the capital.”
The matter is not much different for Light, although he has no family ties to Juba, where he arrived after an arduous journey that lasted over thirteen days, but as soon as he reached the one of the merchants of the south who had worked with his father for many years, he was surrounded by a warm welcome which was further increased after meeting many of his colleagues who studied with him in Khartoum before the secession of the south .
Idris says: “After arriving in Juba, I did not feel alienated. On the contrary, I felt that I had not left Sudan because all the details of life are similar, and it is the same details that prevailed before the separation, despite the bitterness of war and conflicts. in which the peoples of the south and the north did not participate.”
In fact, the strong movement of displacement from Khartoum has highlighted the great social cohesion among the Sudanese.
Due to heavy fighting and the interruption of electricity and water services in around 60% of the capital’s neighborhoods, more than a million inhabitants have been forced to flee to safer areas, in particular northern and central regions, while around 40,000 chose to travel abroad.
Over the past five decades, Khartoum has served as a refuge for millions of people displaced by drought and poor living conditions in various parts of the country, in addition to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing civil wars in southern Sudan, in Ethiopia and a number of other East African countries which have received tens of thousands of Sudanese in recent days.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
