“We are here to learn but the conditions here aren’t helping us in learning,” says Amar Rehman, a kid studying in a school in the caves in Tunguli.
We travel 5 kilometers just to get some water and run to hide in the caves for our lives when the airplanes come to bomb us. We have little to no pencils, pens and books.
When running for our lives to hide in the caves, some of us get injured, but there are no hospitals to treat the wounded.
He says, Omar Bashir, who is the head of the military, doesn’t think we are humans. He tells us you are animals or insects, but the truth is, we are humans just like him.
There are very few teachers, and the total students in the school are 7000.
One of the teachers said, we don’t eat anything from morning till afternoon, and we don’t have any water. Despite these problems due to war, we won’t give up. But we ask other countries to come and interfere to make it easy for everybody in the Nuba mountains.
Learning about students’ conditions in the Caves in Tunguli, I could only think about how lucky we are. No matter how much we try, we could never imagine what these young students go through.
Think about it and consider their problems, and then compare with our own. How small our problems are in comparison to them. Still, these students refuse to give up and says we will fight for our rights and education.
These students, indeed are an example of bravery, something we as individuals can learn a lot from.
If you wish to see a short video regarding this, here it is:
Usama Khan
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Firstly, thank you for writing a blog on this. I was completely unaware that the situation in Sudan was so terrible and terrifying.
Going through your blog and the video, I couldn’t help but notice that these children might be experiencing severe PTSD. Therefore, it is imperative to extend psychological support to these children at a time like this. Alongside that, for education to become a priority, these children need to be extended aid in terms of food, clean water, nutritional interventions, and protection. Which is where my question comes from. Considering that these children are suffering from malnourishment and extreme PTSD, should education really be the priority?
"One of the teachers said, we don’t eat anything from morning till afternoon, and we don’t have any water. Despite these problems due to war, we won’t give up. But we ask other countries to come and interfere to make it easy for everybody in the Nuba mountains" this shows the dedication of these people. It is very important for at least teachers to be provided with the basic needs so they can maximize their efforts for the children
What do you think drives their hope and their desire to persist in such perilous circumstance? as children, what grasp could they have on the concepts of “purpose” or an assignment of meaning which can drive their view beyond the massacre of their present? Is it perhaps the pure and unadulterated hope of a freer tomorrow? Or do you think they persist simply because they must; because they exist and so they must live and continue until death comes unto them?
You have highlighted a crucial issue of Nuba people. Moreover, if we look into their problems we do find that they are even surviving for the basic medical needs as well. They are not getting proper medical assistance and facilities. According to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), “No Control, No Choice,” Nuba women and children have little or no access to adequate medical care or contraception—leaving them unable to control the number and spacing of children and exposing them to serious health risks, even death. There are only five doctors and two fully functioning hospitals for roughly one million people in the Nuba Mountains. They are the survivals. Highly appreciated.
Very beautifully written Usama. Words cannot express the emotions and the feelings of these students. One of the two things that I really admired in the blog was that how you talked about the issues of the teachers as well. I believe that no matter how much motivated the students are - at the end, the teachers have to give it their all and for them to be able to that, they have to be trained well and have to be given the resources. In this case, the teachers are mentally exhausted but still never fails to educate the students - which I found very fascinating. Secondly, it is almost unbelievable that even in these times of crisis, the students…