Hassania Mansour Mahamet, 35 years old, sits with her eight children in Oure Cassoni camp. The oldest is 14 years old, the youngest 14 days old.

“I am from El Fasher where I graduated from El Fasher University, I hold a first aid certificate. I used to work for an international organisation. When the war came to El Fasher, my husband and I left with our seven children on foot, I was heavily pregnant. The armed men were burning everything as they moved on. As soon as we arrived in Zamzam, we had to flee the war again, that’s where I lost my husband, I don’t know where he is, I don’t know what happened to him. When I fled Zamzam with my children and the group we stayed with, I saw a lot of suffering on the road. The armed men take everything from people. They take water from children dying of thirst. They kidnap young boys (16+) and then kill them. My older brother was taken in front of my eyes, then killed. I had no choice but to keep going, I had no time to look back and care for his body. I ran away with my children. I gave birth at sunrise between Shagra and Tawila. I was walking with my children and the group. The cramps started, I found a small tree by the road, covered myself with my toub (Sudanese women’s cloth) told my children to stay close, and with the help of an old woman from the group, I gave birth to Sabir, my eighth child. I rested for one day, then told the group to keep going without me. I begged for money, and traveled to Korma on a donkey. I kept bleeding and healed myself with traditional medicine. I felt better after six days. The children and I gather the needed money from telling our story, and we paid a driver to Serif where I saw a doctor. We went on to Tine where we were told it was a safe place. My sister-in-law was already in Oure Cassoni with her family, and as I’m alone with eight children, I needed to keep going to guarantee help. I arrived here several days ago. We lack food, we lack water, the wadi (a dry pool filling during rainy season) is far, and after 4pm it’s not safe to go there. I’m afraid for my girls, and afraid for all my children due to lack of water. Today, I could gather just a little bit of water for all of us.”