In 2023, conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces devastated Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur.
The fighting destroyed homes and infrastructure, claiming thousands of lives.
Amid the chaos, Adam Ibrahim, a national Humanitarian Affairs Officer with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), fled with his family. Despite the trauma of their escape, he later returned, driven by a deep commitment to help those in urgent need.
A journey through displacement and hope
We were trapped in Zalingei town for 40 days. Mortar shells were falling in residential neighborhoods day and night. We fled our home and sought shelter in an unfinished three-story building for three weeks.
With limited access to food and water and continued insecurity, we realized on the 39th day that we had no choice but to flee.
It was June 2023. With my family, I travelled first to Nyala in South Darfur, then to Kosti in White Nile State.
From there, we crossed the border into neighboring South Sudan and finally reached Uganda.
The journey took 23 days. It was filled with fear, heartbreak, and uncertainty, an ordeal that will remain with us forever.
In Uganda, we slowly began to rebuild our lives, trying to find a much-needed sense of normalcy. But there was nothing normal about this.
Here I was – an aid worker, now a refugee – in need of the same support I used to provide to others.
Returning to Darfur
In November 2024, I was finally able to resume work in Zalingei.
Bullet holes-scarred buildings. The OCHA office was destroyed, and no functioning health facilities or schools. My house had been looted, the windows removed, and all our belongings gone.
We had worked so hard to build a safe space for our family, seeing our home stripped of everything was devastating. To make matters worse, a doctor and his family who had also lost their home had moved in.
Of course, I let them stay, they didn’t choose this situation – none of us did. So, I set myself a small section of the house and shared it with another OCHA colleague.
Read the rest of Adam Ibrahim’s story on the OCHA website.
Also on iSeek:
