It was his crutch and his eye.. A blind Sudanese man cries over the loss of his son in the war policy

While the war places its heavy burden on the shoulders of every Sudanese, the suffering of the blind segment stands out as one of the harshest chapters of this human tragedy. They not only face the danger of bullets and missiles, but they also live in double darkness after the war destroyed their institutions and separated their families.

Waddah Al-Tahir’s report highlights for Al-Jazeera the story of the blind Sudanese father (Muawiyah), who is an example of hundreds of blind people who were not merciful to the war machine. Not only did Muawiyah lose his home, but he also lost his son and brother, who were killed in the conflict, and his wife and daughter were kidnapped by the Rapid Support Forces.

Muawiyah says, his voice filled with sadness, that his son represents more than just a member of the family to him; He was his guide to the mosque, his reader of books, and his eye on the roads.

This personal loss reflects the depth of the tragedy that this group is experiencing, as displacement and escaping death turn into an almost impossible task for a person who depends entirely on others and on a familiar environment whose features have completely changed.

Assassination of the educational future

The damage did not stop at the personal level, but extended to the educational and service infrastructure.

The Institute for the Education of the Blind in Khartoum, which is considered a beacon for this group, was subjected to widespread vandalism, and the greatest shock was the destruction of the only printing press in Sudan that operates the Braille system, which means stopping educational curricula and cutting the link between the blind and knowledge in all parts of the country.

The destruction of the institute’s means of transportation, such as the buses that used to transport the students, created an additional obstacle to the students’ return to school, threatening the loss of the future of an entire generation of blind people.

The Minister of Social Welfare in Khartoum, Siddiq Freni, explains that the war not only displaced the blind, but also increased their numbers. Armed violence and indiscriminate bombing led to direct casualties, causing new numbers of Sudanese to lose sight.

In the absence of accurate official statistics, estimates by the Union of the Blind in Khartoum Bahri reveal the scale of the disaster, as about 7,000 blind people were displaced from the region, of whom about 4,000 returned to a bitter reality lacking the minimum necessities of life and health care.

A call for help in a deep valley

Government agencies in Khartoum State acknowledge the scale of the challenges, but they appear helpless in the face of the magnitude of the needs in light of the continuing fighting.

Cries are rising from within the institute and from the displacement camps for the need for international and humanitarian organizations to intervene to rehabilitate educational facilities and provide mobility aids such as the “white cane” and safe environments.

On the political and diplomatic level, the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti put the dots on the letters; It is not possible to talk about social solutions, development, or rehabilitation for these fragile segments unless the buzzing of bullets stops. “Returning to the dialogue table and securing civilians is the first and only step to saving what can be saved.”