“The war will not stop me from achieving my dream.”
We never forget what we were doing or what day of the week it was when events occurred that changed our lives. For Layla, 28, it was this: “When the war started, it was Saturday.” Since that Saturday, Layla’s life has been upended. She never imagined that, two years later, the war would still rage, and she would have been forced to leave her family behind and build a new life in another city.
The healthcare system has all but collapsed
As a consequence of the war in Sudan, the healthcare system in the country has virtually collapsed. There is a severe shortage of medical professionals, and many of the remaining healthcare staff have only minimal qualifications. In December 2025, a team from Malteser International’s Pool of Experts traveled to Port Sudan to support 200 hospital personnel with training in life-saving skills. This is where our colleague Katharina met Layla, who is training in Port Sudan to become a nurse.
A difficult decision
Layla’s original home is in Sudan’s capital city Khartoum. After that fatal Saturday, there were no safe places anymore, often no water, no electricity. “Even if you are in your home, you don’t feel the same, you don’t feel safe,” Layla says. “You need to accept that at any time a soldier can come and say ‘Go out of your house or I will kill you.’”
"They take a lot of girls by force."
Laylas voice is steady when she recounts the horrors she has witnessed. “If you have a car, if you have a little money, if you have anything: They will kill you. If you are alone or in a group: They will kill you. When you send your daughter to the market, maybe she will not return. Because if you are a young girl or woman walking in the street and [a soldier] looks at you and if he likes you, he will marry you – if you agree or not. Or he will kill you. They take a lot of girls by force.”
At one point, no one in Layla’s family ate for three days, because they were afraid to go to the market. So together, the family made a hard decision: “My Dad told me to go to Port Sudan. He said ‘I am old, I don’t have the strength anymore. You should go. Try to help us and try to be safe.’ Because of that I came here.”
Layla has a university degree in Social Studies and is now training to become a nurse. On our course, she participates with enthusiasm, asks questions, and is eager to learn as much as possible. She is also working constantly to perfect her English. Layla feels lonely in Port Sudan and misses her family very much, especially in these hard times.
"The people are suffering. We need peace"
“All these photos and videos you can see on social media from Sudan, they are not fake, it is a reality,” says Layla. “The people in Khartoum and in Al-Fashir, in all the places, they are suffering. I wish that all people in the world would try to achieve peace for Sudan, in whatever way possible to them, because we really are suffering. We lost our homes, our work, and a lot of people do not have a family, do not even have the simplest things needed for life. We need a lot of support. We need peace.”
A dream for the future
When asked about her dreams for the future, Layla’s voice becomes positive and hopeful: “I have the dream to work in an organization that helps all people, because I feel that is my duty. In my university studies, they taught us how to serve your community, how to give support without seeing someone’s religion, history, ethnic origin. We are all the same. I want to work to support my family and all my people. Now I work hard to achieve this. I believe in myself. The war will not stop me from achieving my dream.”
(December 2025)
