The Tale of (S).. The Tragedy Speaks for Itself!
Mohamed Abdulmajid
If I were to paint you a picture of Khartoum as it is now, you would think I was exaggerating the horror. And if I agree with you on exaggeration, it would be in the other direction, as I try to convey the events to you while minimizing and being patient, to avoid the pain, and in adherence to the principle that patience is the key to relief, and that gratitude and thanks are the best response to tribulations. Nonetheless, we must not ignore the horror of what is happening in Khartoum, and those responsible must be held accountable. Since last Thursday, the electricity outage has further exacerbated the war on citizens. Power outage means water cutoff and a near-complete halt of life, as people depend on electricity for drinking, eating, and sleeping, especially with the significant rise in temperatures.
Haj Hassan, with his old white Iraqi turban, and his trousers with frayed ends, and a cap that he used to wear tilted on his forehead, now wears it in the middle of his head. At the beginning of this war, Haj Hassan used to say, even as bullets fell before him, that God is greater than security!
But when the electricity was cut off and its current disappeared from the wires and houses, he said: God is greater than electricity!
And after the electricity was cut off, water was automatically cut off too, so Haj Hassan said: Electricity is not a problem, the issue is water!! There is nothing greater than water.
And when a crisis occurred in bread and its lines extended to the horizon, he would say: God is greater than bread. If there is bread, everything is easy.
These days, Haj Hassan drinks water at a temperature close to boiling, and he says, as he sips a cup of hot water, there is nothing greater than (cold) water!
Then, Haj Hassan, who has been weakened and fatigued, began to say: There is nothing greater than health. If health is fine, everything can be fine. Then he mutters as he leaves: The important thing is health!
To those who ignite and fuel wars from abroad, while they are safe from it, we say to them, fear God for this people. The situation can no longer be tolerated. And the sight of people carrying buckets and jerry cans on the roads is a depressing and unfortunate sight, and misery is on their faces as they chase water news and follow its sources by smell, women, elderly, and children chasing the water chain until the (water taps) that were a (way) on the roads for passersby and the thirsty have dried up.
In this war, certificates and respect for higher degrees have fallen, and elders no longer find respect or dignity, and there is no longer companionship with women, nor mercy for the sick, nor aid for the needy and distressed.
In this war, we lose the Sudanese chivalry and morals we used to be known for, and this may be natural as the war is about to enter its seventh month.
What do you expect after the war has completed its sixth month? This duration only generates misery, drought, poverty, looting, and plundering.
The continuation of the war leads to dire consequences, more dangerous than the fragmentation of Sudan and the division of the nation. We are losing our ethics amid this war and the looting and plundering, which are not much different from greed and avarice, not just from the general public, but from relatives as well, even in the safe states, where rents reach a billion pounds or more per month!
The Sudanese government has lost its sense of the people. They only care about their positions, power, and seats during this war, which they cover with a veneer of nationalism.
A Russian lady, in her nineties, talked about the days she lived through years ago during the war, and said that she can never forget the tasty egg she ate with four of her friends during the war in her university dormitory in Moscow, It was a real celebration when one of our friends returned from her village with a single boiled egg, and she shared it with us, her four friends. I have never eaten anything more delicious than that egg in my life. This Russian woman, a doctor named Rufina, tells the story to Doha magazine, and talks about how they used to sleep at night huddled in their coats and felt boots, with no heating, and temperatures behind the walls between thirty and forty below zero, and hunger doubled the feeling of cold.
Rufina smiles, and the eyes of her friend Klara cloud over and she looks perturbed as she remembers the pieces of dry bread that she hid in a dark place in the building, and would eat a piece every night before squeezing next to her friends, who were also dreaming of surviving to the next day.
She says, It was shameful that I hid it from my friends, but I was hungry all the time.
The writer of the story, Mundhir Badr Haloum, says, I remember with them my happiness the day I managed to buy cans of expired and discarded canned meats. I took the risk, ignoring my knowledge of the toxins, and ate them with pleasure, and the store shelves were cleared of everything except eggs and pasta by an unknown force that serves the collapse.
How many consecutive days can one eat eggs and pasta with nothing else? Dont underestimate the number, my friends. It can be done indefinitely. The microbiology professor used to skillfully talk to us about botulism until he gave us a phobia of poisoning. I enjoyed the many small cans prepared for childrens sandwiches, except for the swollen ones, and all I cared about was a cup of tea sweetened with sugar (I havent tasted sugar for the entire duration of the war).
This is about the effects of war in Russia. How about the people in Sudan who live below the poverty line and suffer from disease, ignorance, greed, and looting?
The war in Sudan is close to completing its sixth month, meaning 180 days without a moment of silence from gunfire. The looting and plundering have not stopped either. And I cant forget (greed and avarice), which I said were more dangerous than (looting and plundering), because looting and plundering come from (strangers), while greed and avarice come from (relatives).
For 180 days, life in Sudan has been threatened and devoid of the ability to live and survive.
I will tell you a story that I personally followed and that left deep wounds inside me that are hard to heal! Some people came to this life and left it quickly, without even leaving behind (their names). They preferred to move to the afterlife without leaving an address or a name or a phone number to be contacted by their families. They came to this world in peace and left it in peace.
There are people who fell in this war in this way without anyone noticing or paying attention to them. They are the real victims of the war.
Mrs. (S) is a tea seller whose name I dont know, so I assumed it to be (S). I tried to get her name, but everyone I contacted said they didnt know her name. She appeared a week ago and left quickly before the week was over.
A week ago, I passed by the intersection of Al-Haj Yousif main street, which leads to Al-Soarij and Al-Wahda and is known as Kassala street, intersecting with the new Al-Ban street. At this intersection, there used to be a canopy used to sell fruits and vegetables before the war, but its owner abandoned it because the area became unsafe and bullets came from all directions.
As I passed by this canopy, I noticed that there was a tea seller with her young daughter sitting on it, selling tea and coffee, seemingly unconcerned about the risks she could face selling tea at this intersection.
I learned that this woman came from the (35) area, which is located between Al-Haj Yousif and A’id Babakir, to this canopy at this strategic location, despite its risks. It seems that the economic conditions forced her to come from her distant area every morning with her daughter to earn a living by selling tea and coffee.
The need of the woman I called (S) was greater than her fears, as she came to this area and risked her life and death.
Her husband was not around, and as it seemed, she had a son and a daughter who were no older than 15 years, and perhaps she had other children.
The continuation of the war led her to this, to come at seven in the morning and return in the evening after she had earned enough to support herself and her children.
She seemed happy with this location when I passed by her once, actively watering the ground, lighting incense in supplication, energetically filling the water flask, and welcoming her guests with ease and satisfaction.
The day before yesterday, when I passed by her shop, I found the corners of the canopy scattered, and what seemed to be tea equipment scattered on the roads, and it was crushed and trampled.
I asked about the canopy and the tea seller and the girl who sat under it for less than a week, and I was told that there was a Tucson car driven by one of the Rapid Support Forces personnel at seven-thirty in the morning at an incredible speed, causing him to lose control of the car at the intersection and crash into the canopy, throwing the tea seller and her daughter far away.
The tea seller died instantly, and her body was found lifeless, while her daughter was severely injured, resulting in fractures and severe wounds, and was taken to the hospital, and I dont know if she is still alive or if she followed her mother.
As for the son, he was late that day and arrived carrying a flask of cold water to find people gathered around a woman who could barely be recognized, a girl between life and death, and scattered seats and canopies. How shocking! The son was surprised to find that his mother had died and his sister was injured. It is certain that the sons injury was more severe than his sisters, who was between life and death.
The story does not end there, as the war is ongoing and the tragedies are renewed.
I read about the death of 9,000 civilians due to this war. It is certain that those who died in the manner of (S) are multiples of this number, and there are those who died because they could not find medicine or care.
Those who died and the war was not a direct cause of their death, are multiples of those who died by gunfire and aerial bombardment and artillery and projectiles.
The end!!
Abu Ibrahim
