By Sheila Ponnie

April 15, 2023 is a day Najah Al-Fadl wishes she could erase.

She still remembers waking to the sound of gunfire tearing through the once-quiet air of Khartoum, when fighting erupted between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The violence shattered a life she described as stable and comfortable, and set her on a path of displacement that has lasted years.

“Before the conflict, my children were living a comfortable life,” Al-Fadl said. “We had a television set in our house. They used to play computer games, and they were going to school.”

For the past three years, Al-Fadl has called the Renk Transit Centre in South Sudan home after fleeing Sudan. “We lived in a smart house with air conditioning,” she said. “But today, we live in a plastic sheet house.”

 Al-Fadl fled in early 2023, shortly after her husband, the family’s sole provider, was killed. Pregnant at the time, she crossed into South Sudan with her young children, moving through areas where drones and fighting forced civilians to constantly seek cover. “When he passed away, I was left alone to take care of the children,” she said. “I’m the only one working for them, and it is not enough.”

The war in Sudan passed its third anniversary this April 15, leaving behind thousands of displaced families whose futures remain uncertain and increasingly fragile. Transit centers like Renk were designed as temporary stopovers for refugees and returnees before they move further inland. But with Sudan’s war dragging on, many families have remained stuck in transit centers in South Sudan for months or years, unable to leave. F Many families in transit centers face hunger, poor sanitation, and little hope of returning home soon.

Aid workers say food shortages are growing, children are out of school, and malnutrition cases are rising.

“This child has a very serious disease,” Al-Fadl said, speaking about her youngest child, who will turn three this year.

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“Another major concern that we are facing here is the lack of schools,” she added. “When I was in Sudan, I was studying. My oldest child was in sixth grade and the youngest in second grade. When we reached here, they dropped out because there are no schools. Children are suffering.”

On the northern edge of South Sudan, Al-Fadl wakes each morning to the same question: how to feed four children with nothing left to sell and nowhere to go.

A life in limbo

For 23-year-old Ishraq Yusuf, the Renk Transit Centre has become a place of long waiting. She arrived in 2023 expecting a short stay. “Three years down the line, I am still here because my country is not yet safe,” she said.

The crisis has been deeply personal for Yusuf. One of her children fell seriously ill after arrival. “The cause was hunger and severe acute malnutrition,” she said. “My child was not eating well.”

She briefly returned to Sudan in search of treatment but found none. While her child has since recovered, survival remains a daily struggle. Yusuf now makes cakes and sells small items to buy food. “Sometimes there is nothing,” she said. “I just feed my children with milk only.”

Humanitarian workers say the situation at the transit center is becoming increasingly difficult. “In the transit center, people are expected to stay two to three days,” said Gorjan Soghali Oswuro, a nutrition specialist at the site. “That is not the reality on the ground.” He said more than 350 children are treated each month for acute malnutrition. Without additional funding, he warned, conditions could deteriorate further. “It will definitely lead to deaths among children.” 

Robert Richardson, a health and nutrition officer, said malnutrition cases remain at alarming levels. “Cases of acute malnutrition in the transit center are at a high peak, and we fear they may increase in the coming days,” he said.

Najah Al-Fadl inside her “plastic sheet house”

Survival and uncertainty

With limited aid, families have developed survival strategies. “Some of us work, and when you get something, you buy food,” one resident said.

Al-Fadl said she uses child-friendly spaces at the center so her children can play while she searches for food. “The most difficult thing is eating and drinking,” she said. “Sudan is still in trouble. There are a lot of injustices.”

Despite everything, Al-Fadl said fleeing with her children remains her greatest accomplishment. “The most important thing I brought from Sudan were my children,” she said. “They are safe now. This is the best thing that can happen to any mother.”

Still, uncertainty dominates daily life. Sudan remains unsafe, but life in limbo offers no clear future. “If peace comes back to Sudan,” Yusuf said, “I would like to go back.”

Al-Fadl is less certain. When asked if she would leave if a bus arrived, she paused.

“I would not accept,” she said. “I don’t know the place I am going. Is it safe or not?”

For many families, a transit center meant to be temporary has become the only stable point in an unstable world.