Help my family fleeing Sudan war rebuild their lives

Heba Osman is organising this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hi everyone,

My name is Heba Osman. I live in Ontario, Canada. Back in April 15, 2023, war broke out unexpectedly in Sudan forcing thousands and millions to be displaced.

According to UNICEF in February 2023: “the world’s largest displacement of children has been seen in Sudan. Four million children have been displaced. That’s 13,000 children every single day for 300 days. Safety, gone. Worldly possessions, gone. Friends and family members separated or lost. Hope, fading.”. Source: https://www.unicef.org/sudan/press-releases/300-days-war-sudan

Sadly, 2 of these children are my nephews Ahmed, 9 and Aouis, 6.

Since the outbreak of the war last year, my mother, sister, and nephews temporarily relocated to Cairo, Egypt, due to the dangerous situation in Sudan. They have endured severe psychological and emotional distress but initially chose to remain in their home and safeguard their belongings despite the great risks. However, events took a drastic turn on April 18th at 7:25 PM EST, when my sister, Amal, sent distressing pictures on our WhatsApp group chat after a night of heavy gunfire and armed clashes in their neighbourhood, depicting stray bullets penetrating two separate rooms through windows, one of which landed on my nephew's bed – luckily, no one got hurt as they were all hiding together in another room. This incident made it undeniably clear that it was time to painfully abandon and leave everything behind to ensure the safety of the children.

Under harrowing circumstances, my brother-in-law, arranged for the rest of the family to take the risk and travel by bus to the Egyptian border, even though my nephew Aouis had a cast on his broken arm and was in great pain, it was the only available option. Throughout the journey, they faced terrifying encounters, with members of the militant Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stopping the bus multiple times along the way, conducting searches, and intimidating passengers with their firearms. The kids were in hysterics and great fear. After enduring five distressing days, with no proper food or water and sleeping in remote and secluded locations, they safely reached the Egyptian border and crossed into Egypt on May 6th, 2023.

However, Azhari, my dear brother-in-law, was not allowed to join them due to Egyptian visa protocols. But he still displayed immense selflessness by dedicating himself to saving lives as a Consultant Anesthesiologist. He relocated to a safer region but the conflicts is rising. While we deeply admire his heroic actions, we are profoundly concerned for his safety, as he remains trapped in Sudan and urgently requires evacuation, especially under the escalating armed conflict.

Meanwhile, my family in Egypt remains with no permanent home as their house in Sudan was sadly broken into and ransacked - as thousands of other civilian households. They are relying solely on me to send them money to help cover their rent, food, clothes, school fees, and medical expenses if needed. And for me to help bring them to a permanent safe haven here in Canada. I started their permanent residence applications earlier this year.

I vow to cover all of their expenses once they get here with each and every dollar gained from this fundraiser. Also, the cost of maintaining their lives in Cairo while the Canadian Authorities complete their paperwork and getting them all here is very high.

I kindly ask you to help us bring them to safety. Anything helps, even $1 makes a difference.

Every donation will go towards:

covering their rent
daily expenses (food, transportation, clothes…etc)
medical expenses (my mom has heart problems, my sister has type 1 diabetes and was recently diagnosed with some vision complications), and just two months ago my nephew, Ahmed, was diagnosed with ADHD and was having troubles in school. He needs frequents sessions with specialists
new school year registration and tuition for the boys
immigration process expenses
when it’s time to move to canada (within a few months from now), funds will also be used to cover travel expenses and flight tickets
getting my brother-in-law out of Sudan and then to Canada
cover their expenses when they arrive and settling them into their new lives
purchasing household stuff from A-Z (furniture, weather-appropriate clothing, etc)

As you can tell, the 100K CAD (roughly $73K USD) isn’t quiet enough to cover everything for 5 people who lost everything, but looking at what’s happening in the world right now, I don’t want to be greedy. Wars and inflation hurt a lot of us, let’s all share blessings (I have blessed others as well ☺️).

I have been trying to cover all of my family’s expenses for the past year, but with the current inflation, things are getting tough. And as per an old Sudanese saying “1 hand cannot clap”, I desperately need another helping hand right now.

I have no expectations for the raised funds, any amount would be an extra blessing for my family and will be highly appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

I will attach some photos…