The Christian relief and development agency Tearfund is highlighting the plight of pregnant women who are among those fleeing conflict in Sudan.
Over 1.3 million displaced people have crossed the border into South Sudan since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in 2023. Communities have been plunged into severe food shortages because of the number of refugees, among them young mothers who are forced to endure life-threatening births on the road with no food, water or shelter.
The war is universally recognised by the United Nations and major international relief agencies as the largest displacement crisis in the world.
Tearfund highlighted the story of 21 year old Achol who fled an air raid while heavily pregnant. After walking for three days without food, she gave birth to twin girls and had to tear up her only bedsheet to wrap them. She said: “I spent my first month in the open struggling to feed my children and suffering deeply from hunger”, adding “The Word of God gives me strength. My suffering has made me stronger. I stay strong because of my children”. Achol now has a place in a camp for displaced persons.
Erickson Bisetsa, Tearfund’s South Sudan Country Director, said: “Every day in the camps, mothers demonstrate unimaginable strength amidst extreme poverty. They gave birth on transport trucks or under trees with nothing to wrap their infants in. The need is vast in these camps right now. A mother and baby facing hunger today cannot wait”.
More information can be found at www.tearfund.org