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For Samira, war did not happen once and end. It followed her from Darfur to a refugee camp abroad. Sudanese refugee Samira’s story shows how conflict can take away a home, family, health and the future a child once imagined.
A childhood shattered by war
In 2003, when fighting reached her village near Tine in Darfur, Samira was just 10. She loved school and dreamed of becoming a judge. “I wanted to help people find justice,” she said.
Attacks and looting forced her family to flee. Samira has been displaced seven times since. Later, she married a man from her Zaghawa community and settled in El Geneina, West Darfur. They built a trading business and raised five children.
That stability ended when Sudan’s latest war began in April 2023 between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In June, armed men came for the family’s money, vehicles and property. Samira said they killed her husband and two daughters in front of her.
Another flight, another loss
Samira fled to Nyala with her three surviving children. But artillery struck the house where they were staying. Two people died; the blast tore off her right arm and destroyed her right eye.
After treatment, she fled again, eventually reaching Korsi refugee camp in the Central African Republic. Today, she sells rice and spices at the camp market, using some of her food ration and buying extra goods when she can afford to resell them.
Her eldest son recently left for Morocco, hoping to reach Europe for work; she has not heard from him. She cares for her two other children and is considering another move to Cameroon.
One story in a vast crisis
Samira’s losses are part of a wider emergency. The UN refugee agency’s Sudan crisis tracker counted more than 11.3 million forcibly displaced people as of 5 October 2026, including people uprooted inside Sudan and those who crossed borders. UNICEF estimated that 33.7 million people in Sudan would need humanitarian assistance in 2026.
A hope of returning home
Despite her losses, Samira remains tied to Darfur. “I love every corner of Darfur,” she said. She is considering leaving the camp because safety remains uncertain, but she hopes to return home if peace comes.
“Even with one eye and one arm, I would go back.”
For Samira, peace means an end to running, a life with dignity and the chance to call one place home.
