In Libya’s Far Reaches They Tend to Sudan’s Silent Wounds

But war slowly crept in and then suddenly it was everywhere. Streets she once walked with ease were now divided by checkpoints.

Schools closed. Homes emptied. Her brother was killed in the early days of the fighting, caught in the crossfire.

This loss left a deep ache that still jolts NourAlhuda awake at night, long after she left Khartoum behind.

Across the Red Sea, her older cousin Arafa was completing Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when the news reached her.

War had broken out. Her home was no longer safe. Her daughter had fled, but she wasn’t sure where to. To this day, she clings to hope, waiting for a word from her.

Weeks later, the cousins reunited unexpectedly in Al-Kufra, Libya. The reunion was not planned. Though the conflict had torn their lives apart, the search for safety had brought them back together under one roof.

Their journey was driven by survival instinct, yet enduring the ordeal demanded something more: resilience, support, and the will to keep going. It was this strength that led NourAlhuda to choose Libya, where she hoped to reunite with her son, who had fled Sudan earlier.

In Al-Kufra, the two shared more than a home. They shared loss, uncertainty, and the everyday challenges of survival. NourAlhuda kept busy, trying not to dwell on the past, but some nights the memories arrived uninvited.

“It’s a pain that never leaves you,” Arafa says quietly. “But we have to carry on.”

They struggled to find jobs, but by pooling their resources, they managed to pay rent and cover their basic needs.

“We had to stretch every dinar, but at least we had each other,” says Arafa.

Both women battled more than memories. Displacement brought new challenges, including chronic illnesses. NourAlhuda and Arafa both suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure.

“We were worried our health would decline without care,” shares NourAlhuda.

Their turning point came when they accessed health services provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) at a centre set up in collaboration with local authorities and partners in Al-Kufra, Libya.

There, something shifted. Care was consistent. Medication was accessible again. Blood pressure stabilized.

The weight of uncertainty, at least the part tied to their health, began to lift. The doctors didn’t just hand them pills. They looked them in their eyes, spoke gently, and gave them space to feel human again.

The centre provides essential and life-saving healthcare services, including maternal and reproductive health care, and plays a vital role in reaching vulnerable Sudanese populations in the region.

Since the outbreak of the Sudan crisis in April 2023, IOM has scaled up mobile health interventions across Libya, particularly in hard-to-reach areas like Al-Kufra. By April 2025, nearly 60,000 medical consultations had been provided to Sudanese nationals across the country.

“One day we hope to return home, to rebuild, to be with our families again, and to reclaim the life we once knew,” Arafa says.

Until then, the two women continue to support each other, heal together, and hold onto the dream of seeing Sudan again.

This story was written by Ruba Abusrewil, Public Information and Media Assistant, and Mouaid Tariq Duffani, Digital Media Assistant, with IOM Libya.  *SOURCE: The International Organization for Migration (IOM). Go to ORIGINAL: https://storyteller.iom.int/stories/libyas-far-reaches-they-tend-sudans-silent-wounds Human Wrongs Watch