Metro Detroit family loses loved ones in violent Sudan conflict, gather aid for victims
(CBS DETROIT) - For Belleville resident Khadega Mohammed and her dad Bashir, the odds of being able to immigrate from Sudan to Saudi Arabia and then to the United States was like trying to win the lottery.
But in 2007, lucky enough for them, they won.
"Coming to America was a surreal experience for me. I never imagined being here," Khadega Mohammed said.
"My dad applied for the Immigration Lottery to America. We ended up winning in 2007. We started with nothing. We started from scratch in Minnesota."
Years later, the family moved to Michigan, where Bashir Mohammed became a pharmacist and Khadega Mohammed became an advocate for a nationwide nonprofit called the Sudanese American Physician Association.
"It is a member group that has over 600 members of physicians, doctors, dentists, pharmacists in which my dad is a part of who are coming together and pulling aid to Sudan," Khadega Mohammed said.
She says some of that aid is going toward one of just two hospitals that are still standing and serving pregnant women and pediatric care in the country's capital city of Khartoum.
With more than 70% of hospitals demolished, closed down, or forcefully evacuated in the country's largest city, Khadega Mohammed says it has put a strain on medical care.
"There is no place for women and children to go to. Women don't know where like to give birth," she said
The complications all stemmed from a recently ramped up, decades-long civil war in Sudan leaving more than 500 dead in the last two weeks and over 5,000 injured in just the last two weeks.
"When we do call back home, you can hear the gunshots and the bombs outside and to be honest with you, this is a situation the Sudanese people aren't familiar with," Khadega Mohammed said.
As for Bashir Mohammed, when it comes to the people of Sudan, one thing is clear.
"The conflict in Sudan now is a struggle for power. We as Sudanese people are not interested in that. We want this war to stop now," he said.
More than 100,000 residents have already attempted to flee the country, and unfortunately some of them cost their own lives including Khadega Mohammed's very own loved ones.
"My mom, she got the news that her aunt was killed on the way leaving Khartoum to escape. People are getting killed on the way leaving," she said.
However, no matter how far they are from their homeland, Khadega says her heart never left.
"When you are in a situation like this and you are so far away from the conflict, you don't feel like it pertains to you. But this is a humanitarian crisis. We are more capable of helping than we actually think. I hope people here educate themselves and help in any way they can," Khadega Mohammed said.
For more information on SAPA, or for more information about aid to Sudan, click here.
