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Fatima Mohammed Mawai (22) and her sonFatima Mohammed Mawai (22) and her sonFatima Mohammed Mawai (22) and her son

Sudan documentary: Women in a Warzone

Sudan documentary: Women in a Warzone

In this powerful first episode of Concern Documentaries, our Global Content producer Jon Hozier-Byrne travels to South Sudan to speak with women who have risked everything to flee the conflict in Sudan.

Having spoken to families who have fled violence in Khartoum, Kordofan and Darfur and crossed the border into South Sudan, filmmaker Jon Hozier-Byrne offers the first-hand accounts of people whose lives have been completely derailed by the devastating conflict in Sudan.

"I left my entire life behind and arrived here with nothing but the clothes on my back," one woman explains, echoing the story of hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to flee Sudan.

Whitney Hostetter, Concern's Interim Programme Officer in South Sudan, explains how people are leaving Sudan "overnight, with almost nothing" under the threat of conscription to one of the armed groups, physical violence, sexual violence and death.

She adds that people are stepping into the unknown when they leave Sudan - at great financial and personal cost - and that these mothers and children face the threat of serious harm on every step of their journey.

Held against their will for four days

The horror of the journey to South Sudan is told by Sahra, a single mother and former teacher, Sahra tells the story of a terrifying home invasion in which she and her family were held captive for four days.

"At first, I didn't want to leave my home because I built it with my husband," she tells us. "We were trapped inside for four days. We were besieged in our house, and they threatened me using my daughter. There was no way out. Any move I made could have led to them threatening my daughter.

"They would have raped her. As for me, I had no way to refuse their demands of me. 

"Later, they received news that someone had died, or something along those lines, and the doors were left open. At that moment, I grabbed my daughter and ran into the street. I left the country in the first car I found."

Surviving such a traumatic experience has left its mark on Sahra, who describes her fear of locked doors and the suffocation she still feels in South Sudan.

Sahra's story, and those of others who have risked everything for the safety of their children, is unfathomable to anyone who has not lived through such a calamitous situation. 

The stories told in these stories are not easy to digest, but knowing the truth behind one of the most under-reported tragedies of our lifetimes - as it continues to unfold - is of critical importance.

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