PORT SUDAN: In a makeshift shelter carved out of a schoolyard in eastern Sudan, 14-year-old Hanim Mohammed uses her rap music to comfort families displaced by the country’s ongoing war.
For a few fleeting moments, the scars of 21 months of war seem to fade when families huddle together to hear Mohammed’s nostalgic rap lyrics about life before the war.
“When I play rap songs, everyone sings with me,” said Mohammed.
“This makes me so happy,” she said, lighting up with a radiant and captivating smile.
At a UN-sponsored space in the shelter, the young rapper, Nana, commanded the stage with electrifying energy.
Laughter and claps echoed through the air as women and children swayed and twirled to the beat — defying a war that has gripped the country since April 2023.
The conflict in Sudan has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million people, and pushed Sudanese to the brink of famine.
The war, which has pitted army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, triggered the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded,” according to the International Rescue Committee.
Nana’s fans say her songs resonate deeply.
“The joy she brings is indescribable,” said Najwa Abdel Rahim, who attends Mohammed’s performances.
“I feel comfort and excitement when I listen to her music,” said Deir Fathi, another jubilant fan.
When the war erupted, Mohammed fled her hometown of Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, with her family.
Now residing in a secondary school in Port Sudan, she uses rap to articulate her grief and preserve cherished memories of home, she said.
Her recollections of a once-vibrant city now fuel her creative expression, particularly in her poignant track “The Omdurman Tragedy.”
“You sit silently, and a fire breaks out. What do you do? Your brain itself is confused,” goes the song.
Mohammed’s love for rap took root for years, but the outbreak of war brought it home, pushing her to start writing her lyrics, she said.
She has so far written nine songs.
“Most of the songs I composed were for the place I love the most and where I grew up — Omdurman,” she said.
“When the war erupted, this gave an even greater drive,” she added.
The teen rapper and her family share cramped quarters with dozens of displaced families at the shelter. Basic necessities are a daily struggle.
“The most difficult thing I faced was the water,” she said.
“Sometimes I found it salty, and other times it was bitter,” she added.
Conflict-ravaged Sudan, despite its many water sources, including the mighty Nile River, has long been parched and grappling with a water crisis.
Even before the war, a quarter of the population had to walk over 50 minutes to fetch water, according to the United Nations.
Now, from the arid western deserts of Darfur, through the lush Nile Valley, and to the shores of the Red Sea, a water crisis has hit 48 million war-weary Sudanese.
Yet Mohammed refuses to let such hardships keep her down.
Her music has become a lifeline for herself and the people who gather to watch her perform.
And Mohammed is not stopping there. In a small room at the shelter, she sat bent over her books — hoping to fulfill her dreams of becoming both a surgeon and a celebrated rapper.
But above all, she has one overriding wish: “The biggest wish I hope for is for the war to stop.”
