Awad Suleiman Al-Risha

I am Awad Suleiman Al-Risha

The hardest war I have been through in my life is the April 15th war.

War is the sounds of bullets, grenades, and aerial bombings. It is the talk of people where they talk about events, mass death, and the departure of families from homes searching for safe places in the peripheral neighborhoods

on 8/8/2023, we decided to travel to the city of El-Daein.

On the 7th, the day before we left, one of the neighborhood’s young men, Mohannad,  died. May his soul be granted mercy and forgiveness. This made me more sad and angry at life.

On Saturday morning we arrived at the straw market, a local marketplace were traditional goods like baskets and hats are sold, and there were rumors that the road was not safe. After some struggle, we found a bus, and we left around three o’clock in the afternoon. We went out on New Dawn Road passing through Saleha on it. I was asleep until we reached the city of Kosti.

We were about 6 young men renting half a house in Arda. We had lost everything, then I lost my car that I used for travelling.

After that, I decided to leave Omdurman. I faced many challenges. I didn’t have money and I lost my friend who died because hospitals were out of service. It was the worst period I lived through. But I couldn’t forget my old life with my friends. I was feeling sad and angry. I left to the west.

Al- Daein City, Muscat, Sudan

I worked as a volunteer at the Al-Daein humanitarian emergency room. I helped people who were in camps and displaced, and I was looking for a job because I lost everything, but I was thinking of going on with my life.  

After being unemployed for several years, I started to build a new life, but there weren’t any outlets for work. because of the war and difficult economic conditions, but we hope that the war will stop and we will return to life once again and peace returns to Sudan, and the Sudanese return to their homes.

We hope it will be the last war in Sudan, but I could not forget my old life in the old Al-Shuhadaa neighborhood, in the old city of Omdurman, the Omdurman market, the libraries, Al-Ardah Street, the Khalifa House , the Omdurman Cultural Center, the Omdurman Youth Center, the dock in Shambat, the Arab market, Kamboni School, Al-Noon, Somet, Al-Qandola, and Atni cafes, the Zalabia tree, and East Adab. I was thinking about my beautiful comrades and friends. Are they fine? Are their lives stable?  I was sad and angry because I lost everything because of the war and political crises.