Al-Nahda camp, located east of the city of Atbara in River Nile State, is one of several shelter centres that have taken in large numbers of people fleeing violence in Darfur and Kordofan.
The camp now hosts more than 14,000 displaced people who arrived after arduous, days-long journeys, forced to abandon their homes and personal belongings in search of safety and stability.
Life in the camp is austere. Residents are in urgent need of food, clean water and basic services, and many describe the daily struggle to meet those needs as relentless.
Still, amid the hardship, some small but meaningful spaces of solidarity and hope have emerged, both between displaced families and between newcomers and local residents.
The Shari’ al-Hawadith initiative (Al-Hawadith Street), along with other community-led efforts, has stepped in to provide meals and basic medical care to people living in the camp.
Harsh displacement
Man, please register me… my mother and father are dead.
Ismail, a seven-year-old displaced from Al-Fashir
“Man, please register me… my mother and father are dead,” said Ismail, a seven-year-old boy, calling out to an Atar correspondent. Ismail had been displaced from Al-Fashir to Al-Nahda camp with his grandmother.
When asked how his parents died, he answered softly, “They died… the way Allah takes people.” Then he paused and corrected himself, his words carrying a pain far beyond his years: “No… they died in the Rapid Support Forces killings.”
Makkah Mustafa Gaber told Atar she reached the camp about three months ago after a harrowing 10-day journey from Al-Fashir with seven of her children. She says roughly 25 members of her extended family, including a brother, were killed in the fighting.
Makkah says she had to leave her husband behind in Al-Fashir after he was wounded and lost the ability to move. By the time of going to press, she has had no news of him since she fled.
Her mother crossed into Chad, but their communication has also been cut off, leaving her and the children in a state of constant anxiety.
Makkah says the camp offers a measure of safety, yet daily life hinges on humanitarian assistance. Food, clean water and medical care are scarce, and residents rely heavily on aid from relief groups to survive.
Avenues for solidarity and hope
Families share daily supplies and tents, leaning on one another to weather the hardships of displacement.
Despite a brutal journey and bitter conditions, residents at Al-Nahda camp live with remarkable solidarity. Families share daily supplies and tents, leaning on one another to weather the hardships of displacement, while some displaced residents try to earn a living in Atbara through small new enterprises.
The families of Fatima Babiker and Mariam Haroun have lived in a single tent since arriving at the camp. They pool resources, share responsibilities and provide mutual support amid daily struggles.
The two families fled together from Al-Fashir after Mariam’s brother sustained an eye injury. The families first sought refuge in Gedaref before moving on to Atbara to seek medical care for the injured man. In Atbara, philanthropists arranged surgery for him. He is now reported to be in stable condition.
While in Gedaref, Fatima sought ways to support her household by preparing ‘Kawal’, a traditional powdered plant food common in Darfur and Kordofan, which she brought to Atbara to sell as a source of income.
Speaking to Atar, Al-Nur al-Mardi, who hails from Al-Obeid, described a punitive displacement marked by soaring travel costs that compounded an already grueling trek for his family. He now lives in the camp with his wife, Amina al-Haj, and his children from a previous marriage.
The people here are our brothers. Sudan is one country. They welcomed us, stood by us and gave us a great deal of help.
Al-Nur al-Mardi
Al-Nur says he married Amina after they arrived as displaced people in Atbara, and that he recently found work as a cook in a local restaurant, a job that helped him begin to adjust to life here.
He says conditions in Al-Obeid have improved somewhat, but the family is not considering returning for now.
Though he has a more stable income, he still hopes they will one day go back to their city.
Al-Nur praises the local community for the support they received:
“The people of the state are our brothers. Sudan is one country. They welcomed us, stood by us and gave us a great deal of help.”
Afaf al-Neel Yusuf Jabara says she fled with her husband and seven of her children from En Nahud to Al-Nahda Camp about four months ago in search of safety. The camp, she says, has provided a degree of stability and basic services such as food and health care. But the biggest challenge is educating her children.
Several of her daughters are preparing for the Sudanese Secondary Certificate, and daily school transport costs run to about 4,000 Sudanese pounds round trip, an expense the family cannot afford.
Afaf recalls a day when she left the camp to seek work and one of her daughters fell seriously ill with appendicitis. Volunteers from the Shari’ al-Hawadith Volunteers in Atbara responded quickly, transported the girl by ambulance to the hospital and arranged a successful operation.
She says she has deep gratitude to the volunteers.
“They are like my children and they have not failed us since we arrived,” Afaf said.
Takaaya: Ramadan Kitchens
During this Ramadan, the Shari’ al-Hawadith Initiative has been supplying a daily iftar meal to residents of Al-Nahda camp.
The volunteers divided the camp into eight women’s Takaayas and two men’s distribution points to streamline food delivery. Their workday begins before dawn at their centre near the local hospital, where young volunteers from Shari’ al-Hawadith prepare large quantities of food for distribution across the camp and other shelters.
Since establishing its branch in Atbara, the Shari’ al-Hawadith initiative has become a robust model of volunteer humanitarian action. Its members have long supported patients at the hospital, arranged special meals for dialysis patients and organized annual iftars for those observing the fast.
The outbreak of war in 2023 multiplied their responsibilities: waves of displaced people, first from Khartoum and later arrivals from Al-Fashir and Kordofan, forced the group to broaden its operations to meet sharply rising needs.
Amal Abdel Mukarram says she coordinates the camp’s takaayas in partnership with the Shari’ al-Hawadith initiative, joined in the work by other displaced women, including Afaf al-Neel.
The women share the responsibility of preparing and distributing meals to fellow residents in exchange for a modest stipend that helps them survive under the harsh conditions of displacement.
Amal emphasized the warm reception they received from the people of Atbara and the wider state, saying the spirit of cooperation and mutual support is strong.
Despite the volunteers’ dedication and the solidarity among families, each household in the camp carries its own story of loss and daily hardship.
The need for sustained assistance and community solidarity remains urgent to ease the suffering of the displaced and restore a measure of safety and hope.
