“It's amazing how human beings can adjust and adapt and try their best to help themselves and others,” Mercy Corps’ Country Director for Sudan, Kadry Furany, tells OkayAfrica from the organization’s head office in Port Sudan.
It is widely assumed that humanitarian workers have completely left the country, but Mercy Corps, a global team of humanitarian workers, has staff operating in ten offices all over Sudan.
For the report "Sudan’s Untapped Lifeline: Youth Speak Out From the Frontlines of a Collapsed Economy," they interviewed young people in Kassala, North and South Kordofan, and Central Darfur to document the war’s devastating consequences in areas not directly affected by fighting.
Even those who are not in immediate danger of armed conflict or famine are struggling with the collapse of the economy, displacement, and lack of education, trying to survive under circumstances that have gone from bad to worse.
No jobs, no education
Apart from the military, there are hardly any functional institutions left in Sudan. With agriculture and infrastructure destroyed, finding a job is nearly impossible. Most small businesses have been looted and are struggling with the lack of security.
“In the public sector, salaries are irregular and untimely, and the workload has increased due to the emigration of a large number of colleagues. In the private sector, medicine is scarce, and its prices have increased due to high transportation costs and the decline in customer purchasing power, bringing my income to 40% of what it was pre-war,” says a female pharmacy owner in North Kordofan.
“People are trying to have the smallest business possible, which can serve a small bubble,” says Kadry Furany, Mercy Corps’ Country Director for Sudan. Even if they can secure capital, there’s no opportunity for growth amidst inflation, supply shortages, and the ongoing threat of displacement.
In this context, women are more vulnerable to looting and harassment. “There are many concerns in the region about armed groups' violations against girls, so the psychological pressure is very high,” says a female cosmetics trader in North Kordofan.
Overall, the youth interviewed in the report say that discrimination along ethnic lines has worsened.
“Usually in Kassala, strangers are not hired except through personal acquaintance or the acquaintance of one of [their] family members; otherwise, you will not get a job easily. The reasons they tell you are that you are displaced and unreliable and may return to your original area at any moment,” says a female full-time employee in Kassala.
Millions of young people have missed over two years of education at this point. Schools have been turned into IDP camps. “We are losing a generation right now,” says Furany. “We need to think beyond humanitarian assistance, about education, protection, and rebuilding or rehabilitating the market systems.”
Enduring optimism
After detailing these challenges with no end to the conflict in sight, the report shows a remarkable amount of optimism by the same unemployed, displaced young entrepreneurs trying to create businesses in impossible conditions.
“I worked in over a dozen countries, and I would say Sudan has the highest optimism,” says Furany. “The loss of hope kicks in much quicker in other places than here.”
He traces this optimism to three factors. First, Sudan’s strong social cohesion and family units. Those who managed to escape abroad share half of the little they have with their families back in Sudan. “This social capital that the Sudanese family maintained over the years is helping people a lot, at least with their mental health,” says Furany.
Second, the Sudanese are undeterred in their faith. “The amount of resilience that I have seen in Sudan is phenomenally higher compared to the other countries that I worked in. You see misery everywhere, and when you ask someone, ‘How are you?’ they say ‘Alhamdulillah’ [Praise be to God],” says Furany. “People have been through the worst of the worst, and they’re still grateful for what they have. They feel that this is a test and they will make it.”
Third, says Furany, the country has been experiencing tremendous hardship for decades, and people have always bounced back, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day, even after three years of war.
Some displaced Sudanese are already returning to their homes from abroad, even though infrastructure has been destroyed, waterborne diseases are on the rise, health facilities are not functional, and the ground is littered with unexploded landmines.
“Being displaced in another country is not something that any human being would endure for a long time. Sudanese’ attachment to the homeland is high,” he says.
Still, most youth quoted in the report believe that leaving Sudan is the only way they can ensure their and their families’ survival.
“If foreign countries try their best to get the two parties to at least give people a sign that this is going to stop, people will not lose hope and start taking risks,” says Furany. “If there is a future for Sudan, and I hope there is, this generation is going to build it. But there are things that you cannot catch up with; every day counts.”
