Sudan: ‘It made me dream again’: The students refusing to let war stop their education
“I was about to surrender to the idea that higher education was not necessary because I could not attend college,” she says.Then came a scholarship that changed her mind.Since the war erupted between rival militaries in Sudan in April 2023, more than 14 million people have been forced to flee their homes, making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.‘It made me believe in myself again’Sarah is one of hundreds of refugee and internally displaced students in Sudan who have kept their degrees alive through the DAFI programme – scholarships backed by the UNHCR–Mastercard Foundation partnership and run with Windle Trust International.
© UNHCR/Assadullah Nasrullah
Sarah Tekhlu is a refugee from Eritrea and works as a kindergarten teacher.
The money covers tuition and living costs. But for Sarah, studying information management at Comboni College in the capital Khartoum, it offered something harder to put a price on.“The biggest part is financial support. Also, it gives me psychological support. It made me believe in myself again. It made me dream again.”Azhari Ibrahim knows that feeling too. Displaced from North Darfur to Port Sudan, he was partway through a civil engineering degree at the University of Kordofan when the conflict threatened to derail it entirely.“Maybe I would finish my university, but I would face so many challenges without the scholarship,” he says.For Azhari, the support went beyond fees. “It helped me in so many aspects, community support and psychological support, because I found someone nearby me.”Not aloneThat sense of not being alone runs through the programme. Beyond tuition, students get mentoring, leadership training and the chance to connect with others walking the same path – young people trying to finish a degree while their country is at war.
