Fate Tragedies

(MENAFN- Sudanow Magazine) By: Mona Osman

Port Sudan (Sudanow) - Magda's tears rolled down her cheeks, as she threw her exhausted body on the dilapidated car seat next to the window. She cast a look at her house, her home. But it never occurred to her that this would be the last time she would behold that place dear to her, that neighborhood where she was born and raised, now she was sixty-seven.
She was immersed in her reveries when the car set off, jostling her and brining her to reality. She had little sum of money on her, a sum that would be of little help in her journey to the unknown world. This was her first time to leave her home.
With the "Rapid Support Forces" militia waging a war against the Sudanese Armed Forces, April 15, 2023, many people like herself, saw their lives comes into a U-turn from the comfy of their homes to displacement and asylum. Those had become their only option after the militia spread havoc everywhere, looting properties, massacring civilians, and sexually assaulting and subjecting women to gang rape. It was then that Magda decided to flee to safety in Gadarif, accompanied by her orphaned nieces; Razan, twenty-one years old, and Ronaq, fifteen years old; leaving behind the house she inherited from her father.
However, with the militia taking control of Singa, Magda's fear for her underage granddaughters increased, as she had no male to help provide protection for the family. Thus she decided to flee from Gadarif to Kassala, arriving in Atbara, where the small family settled in a small but expensive house, as rents in the safe states had risen, responding to the offer and demand law, more displaced grappling for fewer houses. The same applied for essential and basic commodities. Life was more and more difficult now for Magda and her granddaughters. She had to seek advice and got one from her sister, who lives in Saudi Arabia: seek refuge in Egypt.
Razan cried bitterly as she said: "I told her that human trafficking is difficult, and you are sick with diabetes and high blood pressure, and you will not be able to bear the smuggling journey in this harsh summer."
Magda, caring for the safety of her family , would not buy that story. Her concern for her family was much more greater that her fear of the consequences of the trip. For her asylum was a better option, offering better opportunities for the girls, a possibility of a brighter life.
But the real suffering began when they got into the pickup truck, crowded as it was with fleeing families and packed with the luggage they were able to collect in their run.
When seated, the man supervising the truck made sure to have them all well warped up with ropes, to make sure no one would jump and fall out of the speeding truck. Then the run started: the vehicle began to move at a very high speed. Deafening creams filled the air; screams of women and children mixed with the sounds of the engine, until the scorching heat of the sun forced them to come to a point where no more sound was emitted. They fell silent.
Three days of hell
Under the blazing sun and the dark night, the car stopped only for a few hours of rest and sleep on the bare ground to the mercy of insects and scorpions. Sleep was not possible due to the fear that immersed them during the third day, the sun became unbearably hot and suffocating and Ronaq lost consciousness several times from thirst and exhaustion
And every time, Majida would scream: "She died! She died!", but people would reassure her and calm her down.
No one knew that death was waiting for Majida herself.
On the same day, she fainted hit by sunstroke. Razan thought her grandmother only lost consciousness like her sister, and she began to rub her limbs hoping to wake her up, until a woman from the passengers grabbed her and said in a hoarse voice while crying: "She is dead." It was then that Razan on her turn fainted out of chock.
The tragic scene
When Razan regained consciousness, everyone was around Majida's body lying on the ground. While Ronaq was screaming and running like crazy, believing that her sister was also dead, the passengers caught Ronaq and trying to sooth her down to calm her down. Shocked by the scene, the two girls did not know what to do. Their mother was dead, the heat was scorching, and the future was completely unknown. It was a journey into the unknown, but it left behind deep pain in the hearts of those who remained alive, especially Razan and Ronaq, who were left facing life without grandmother support and without the shelter of a home they left behind. The desert extended before them.

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