2023-07-16 13:52:55
Fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April, specifically days before the end of the month of Ramadan and the advent of Eid al-Fitr.
The capital, Khartoum, was the scene of battles that affected homes, hospitals, and most facilities in the city, for its residents to leave for other states or to neighboring countries. The number of those who migrated to neighboring countries reached regarding 700,000, and more than 2,800 were killed as a result of the ongoing battles, according to UN reports.
With the onset of the conflict, circumstances dictated that 3 Sudanese women, from the capital, Khartoum, be on a visit to the Emirates, whether for the purpose of tourism or searching for work, but with the development of events, they were unable to return once more due to the dire conditions in their country.
Al-Hurra spoke with the three women, following they spent more than two months in state-sponsored hotels as they were stuck in the UAE following their visas expired. The authorities in the UAE even provided them with a visa for victims of disasters and wars, legalizing their status in the country for a year.
The women say that with the opening of the airspace to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast in the east of the country, the Emirates provided planes to return the stranded, and indeed citizens returned to Sudan, while the women decided to stay because of the bad conditions in Khartoum, and they explained that they had to rely on themselves and search for work, as they The choice was to either return or stay at their own expense.
The Emirates had announced allowing nationals of countries suffering from wars or disasters, residency for one yearwhile exempting them from any violations or fines incurred.
According to local websites, the decision came “in light of the continuous efforts to strengthen the country’s position as an incubator for the peoples of the world, and a second home for all nationalities and people of all walks of life, and in line with its directions in extending a helping hand to the needy and vulnerable in various countries of the world.”
Great stay
The women asked not to disclose their identity, and one of them (EM), 33 years old, told Al-Hurra TV that she had found wonderful treatment since her arrival in the Emirates, but her problem is that she is unable to return because she lives in Khartoum. “We cannot return, everything has been destroyed. Here I can find a job (job), but there is none in Sudan.”
She added that she had arrived in the UAE days before the outbreak of the war, specifically to spend the month of Ramadan with her mother and her autistic brother.
The other woman (N.A.), aged 45, said that she works as an employee in the private library of the Atomic Energy Authority in Sudan. She said that with the outbreak of war in Sudan, she was hosted by the Sudanese Club in Ajman for two days, before moving to hosting hotels. intended for the stranded.
She said that she used to come to the UAE 3 times a year during Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr and at the end of the year with big discounts in the malls, where she buys clothes, perfumes and other goods and sells them in Khartoum upon her return, to supplement her poor salary.
She added, in her interview with Al-Hurra, that during her stay in the hotel, doctors were conducting examinations and analyzes, and she had a problem in one of her limbs and her teeth, and she received the necessary treatment, “There was a car that took me from the hotel for treatment and took me back.”
She explained, “There is no blame at all (the Emirates), but we are in an unenviable situation, as if we are in the middle of a road,” referring to the inability to return to Khartoum or stay because of money and not finding a job.
The third lady (M.W), 42 years old, explained that she works at the University of Khartoum and a private school there where she teaches computer science. She came to the UAE days before the war broke out, specifically on the 12th of Ramadan (April 3), and was mainly looking for a job. .
With the outbreak of the war, she went through the experience of the stranded hotel, and said that the situation is very bad in Sudan.
She said that she is married and her husband lives in the same house with her father, explaining, “There is bombing in the evening and morning. I have not contacted them for two days because of the poor phone network.”
Search for jobs
With the decision to leave the hotel and not return to Sudan, the women suffered from the lack of money in their possession, and they explained that each person received one thousand Emirati dirhams (272 dollars) with the departure of the stranded hotel, and since then they began the journey of searching for work.
The thirty-year-old said that she works as a pharmacist and cannot find work in her field due to the lack of papers that she did not bring from Sudan, and that no one can send them in light of the turbulent situation there in the capital, Khartoum, and the battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
“My mother is a government employee and I work as a lecturer at a private university” in Khartoum, but currently it is not possible to return because of the battles, nor to find a job because of the papers.
For her part, the 45-year-old said that she currently does not have original copies of her certificates, and when she sits in a job interview she only talks and does not find anything documenting her speech in a large way, besides that there is a problem related to age, and she continued: “I started looking for jobs less than my job, but There is a problem with age,” referring to jobs that require physical exertion and have advanced in age.
She explained that they were regarding 150 stuck in the hotel, and indeed some of them returned to Sudan on return trips, while others managed to find a job.
The women now live in different places and pay the last money they have left to pay the rent, hoping to find a job that will allow them to spend.
(M.W) said that members of her family are in Cairo, but she needs money to obtain a visa, conduct a security check, and other things, in addition to the fact that their conditions in Egypt cannot bear more financial pressure.
And she continued, “I only have enough for two or three days, and I am currently looking for a job.”
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