‘I lost my home twice’: Sudanese mothers caught between two wars

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports from Lebanon on Sudanese refugee mothers who escaped Sudan’s civil war only to be displaced again by the conflict in Lebanon. The article centers on Rufaida, 28, her husband Mohammad, 39, and their two-month-old son, Ahmad, who are staying at Saint Joseph Church in Beirut with about 250 displaced migrant workers, most of them Sudanese, along with people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and other South Asian countries.

According to the report, Rufaida fled Khartoum after fighting destroyed her family home and killed her father. She later travelled through Sudan for months to secure documents and avoid militia-held routes before flying to Beirut on a tourist visa that has since expired. In Lebanon, she married Mohammad in Bint Jbeil, where he worked as a concierge and the couple lived in a small room provided with the job.

Their new stability ended when fighting in southern Lebanon forced them north. Al Jazeera says their building in Bint Jbeil was later destroyed, and the couple fled with only a small bag containing baby clothes, passports and family keepsakes. After sleeping on Beirut’s waterfront and walking for hours while Rufaida was eight months pregnant, they eventually reached Saint Joseph Church after allegedly being turned away from another shelter; the organization cited had not responded to Al Jazeera by publication.

The story highlights the vulnerability of migrant and refugee communities in Lebanon, where Al Jazeera reports 1.5 million people have been internally displaced since renewed Hezbollah-Israel fighting began on March 2. It also points to a Lebanese Social Affairs Ministry directive saying shelters should serve people of all nationalities.