Women Light Up Homes, Not Fuel A War

Sudanow, Portsudan
Situation Due to War:
The brutal war that raging in Sudan for twenty-two months imposed harsh conditions on citizens across the country, particularly women. These circumstances became a heavy burden, forced several women to jeopardize their lives to maintain their homes.
Water stations in most conflict areas shut down due to clashes, artillery fire, or deliberate targeting by militias. As a result, women forced to fetch water from rivers or wells and resort to firewood. By destroying power grid and gas unavailability, firewood has become an alternative fuel for cooking food, making coffee, and preparing tea; either used directly or after its processing, by burning, to charcoal.

War Made Life Primitive:
In the village of Wawsi Sheikh Abdel-Gadir, 23 km from Bahri and 7 km from Al-Gaili Refinery, women returned to living like their ancestors. Since the war erupted in Khartoum, they have been bringing water from the river or wells, collecting firewood, and living in complete darkness without electricity. That what they once heard about in history books or from their grandmothers whom now in their seventies, those stories became their daily reality for the past two years, as the conflict to reclaim Sudan from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia continues.
Women have jeopardized their lives under dangerous and tensioned security conditions, for over a year, fetching water and fuel to sustain life in their homes.

"Sik Sik Sik" The rattling sound of wheelbarrows and donkey-pull carts fills the morning streets, signaling another day of operating the borehole. Near Sheikh Abdel-Gadir's borehole, people arrive with their donkey-pull carts (kawaru), wheel barrows, or carrying water vessels on their heads. Some walk for an hour just to attain drinking water, with their faces pale, exhausted.
Madani Khalifa Al-Misbah, the well's caretaker, told Sudanow that "Sheikh Abdel-Gadir's well is over 100 years old. It was dug during the era of the first caliph of the village but was abandoned when water stations were built. It was only used occasionally for funeral rituals. In the past, water was drawn manually. Now the war forced us to use it again (the necessity is the mother of invention). The community came together to operate it."
The borehole is run through self-aid efforts, with community contributions focused on securing fuel for the water pump.
Sudanow toured the area to document the resident's sufferance
Tahani Abdullah, a housewife, said that she has been coming multiple times to bring water, describing the process as exhausting but essential for daily needs of drinking, food cooking, washing and ablution and other uses. She added that, for fresh drinking water, her son walk to the Nile every day.

Sabah Abdelrahim added, "We rely on purchasing drinking water, but for daily use, my young son and I bring water from the well using a wheelbarrow."
The war forced innocent people to endure hardships from the past. Thirteen-year-old Zubair Mohamed Al-Atta helps his siblings fetch water. He explained, "Carrying water on the head or pushing a wheelbarrow is exhausting, my younger sisters are too small to bear the load."
Sharf Al-Din Al-Atta Hassan, a donkey-pull cart owner, pointed out, "We sell well water for 4,000 SDG per barrel and river water for 5,000 SDG. The price is fixed for all cart owners. I turned to water distribution as a source of income after all other jobs, such as farming and freelance, became unavailable due to the war."
This village, inspite of lying on the banks of the Nile, it has been suffering a severe water crisis since Al-Gaili water station was bombed. The station, which supply drinking water to Al-Gaili Locality, initially functioned thanks to the efforts of young people in the area, led by Ali Al-Nasih Al-Gallaa, who supervised its operation by providing fuel and repairing damages. Residents also raised donations to keep it running.
As the situation worsened, the RSF militia spread, terrorizing residents with weapons and all the means of intimidation. So, reaching Al-Gaili water station became impossible. The locals had to rely on well water, the Nile, or purchasing mineral water.

A Journey into Firewood collection
Determined to experience this struggle firsthand, I joined a group of 20 women on a firewood-gathering trip. It took us an hour of walking from the village, crossing farmland that turned barren after its owners fled. Upon arrival, there was no time to rest, the women immediately scattered collecting dry wood from abandoned enclosures or farms left desolate by drought.
Hanan Hefni, spoke to Sudanow, how she selects firewood. She explained, "I choose thick, medium-length wood that is easy to carry. The most important thing is a strong, thick rope to tie the bundle securely so it doesn't fall apart."
Sudanow witnessed the exhausting and labor-intensive process of firewood collection. The women worked in pairs, carefully tying their bundles. They placed the rope on the ground before stacking the branches the largest at the bottom, followed by smaller ones, then larger ones again. Once secured, one woman held the rope tightly while the other knotted it firmly. They tested the bundle's strength by shaking it multiple times to ensure it wouldn't fall apart when carried.
To lift the bundle onto their heads, two women assisted each other. Some, more experienced, managed to lift their loads alone.
They walked in a single-horizontal row, leaving space between them, chatting along the way, sharing news, and uplifting each other's spirits momentarily forgetting the dejected reality that war had imposed upon them, whether bringing water or firewood, they carried on with resilience.
This fatiguing weekly journey takes three hours, including the walk to and from the site and the collection process. I never imagined I would experience this firsthand putting my pen aside to live this and then writing about it.
Sudanow asked women what they used the firewood for, the women unanimously responded,“Bakeries stopped functioning long ago. We use it to cook kisra, Gurassa or others."
People have relied on kisra (a mix of sorghum and wheat flour cooked over fire) as their staple food for quite some time.
For over a year, women in Sudan's conflict zones have lived as if in the past without electricity or clean drinking water. They collect firewood, fetch water, and go to sleep at night hoping this chapter will finally end.

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