On the fourth night of the war in Sudan, Dr. Abeer Abdullah sent out a desperate plea for help.
For days, Dr. Abdullah had been rushing to care for 370 children at the al-Mygoma Home for Orphaned Children, the largest orphanage in Sudan, located in Khartoum. The city had become a battleground after a power struggle between two military leaders erupted into a full-blown war. The chaos left the orphanage in an unimaginable state—no nurses, barely a handful of caregivers, and hundreds of babies, most under a year old, struggling to survive.
The scorching heat, sometimes reaching 115 degrees, became unbearable when power cuts knocked out the air conditioning. Explosions shook the walls, and caregivers raced to feed and hydrate the children. But no matter how hard they tried, some babies didn’t make it. Overwhelmed and heartbroken, Dr. Abdullah stepped outside one night, risking sniper fire, to send a message on Facebook: “Save al-Mygoma.”
That post sparked a massive rescue mission. Ordinary people, mostly Sudanese civilians, banded together to save the Mygoma children, leading them on a dangerous journey across four cities and nearly 1,000 miles in search of safety.
The war in Sudan has been devastating, creating what some call the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands have died, millions have been displaced, and hunger has become a grim reality for over half the country. But amid the chaos, the courage of people like Dr. Abdullah and her supporters shines through.
Mygoma had long been a refuge for abandoned babies. It was established in 1961 in a society where having a child out of wedlock carried a heavy stigma. The colorful walls and cartoon decorations at the orphanage masked its struggles—outdated equipment, lack of funds, and an overburdened staff. Despite this, the home had been relatively stable in recent years. But everything changed on April 15, 2023, when the war began.
Dr. Abdullah, the orphanage’s only doctor, rushed to Mygoma as soon as the fighting started. Many of the nannies had left to protect their own families, leaving just ten adults to care for over 370 children crammed into 13 rooms. Supplies like baby formula were running out fast. The first child to die was a six-month-old girl named Jud. Others soon followed.
Dr. Abdullah did her best, but she wasn’t a pediatrician and lacked experience in treating severely dehydrated infants. With every death, she wrote the child’s name in a notebook, trying to hold on to some sense of order amid the chaos.
One of the first to answer Dr. Abdullah’s Facebook plea was a surgeon named Dr. Abdullah Kenany. A longtime friend of hers, he showed up at the orphanage and immediately began helping, even using social media to spread the word. His posts brought in donations and volunteers, but the situation remained dire. In just nine days, 24 children had died.
Eventually, it became clear that staying in Khartoum wasn’t an option. The war was escalating, and the orphanage itself had been hit by stray bullets and shrapnel. Dr. Abdullah and others began planning an evacuation. With help from organizations like UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), they secured a safe route and a new home for the children in Wad Madani, about 120 miles away.
On June 7, 2023, six buses, escorted by the ICRC, arrived at Mygoma. The evacuation was chaotic. Some caregivers had to be pulled away from their families at the last minute, and RSF fighters—part of the paramilitary group controlling much of Khartoum—helped load supplies onto the buses. Each adult held several children as the convoy began its journey.
The road was bumpy, and some children tumbled to the floor. In the ambulance leading the group, a severely malnourished baby named Mohamed was hooked up to an oxygen machine. By the time they reached Wad Madani that night, 298 children had made it out alive.
The new home in Wad Madani wasn’t perfect. It was cramped, and the children were still recovering from malnutrition and trauma. But for a while, they were safe. Some children, like a boy named Youssef—who had survived horrific abuse—began to heal. Youssef grew especially attached to Dr. Abdullah, crawling into her bed every night for comfort.
However, peace didn’t last. The RSF eventually advanced toward Wad Madani, forcing the orphanage to move again. This time, they traveled to Kassala, near Sudan’s border with Eritrea. The journey was heartbreaking—three children died, including a 12-year-old girl who relied on an oxygen machine. Dr. Abdullah and the caregivers continued to live in fear, but they refused to give up on the children.
Through it all, Dr. Abdullah has been a pillar of strength for the children. Youssef, once silent, has started to speak. Many of the children have been adopted into loving families. And in June, Dr. Abdullah made a life-changing decision—she officially adopted Youssef. For her, he’s not just a survivor of the war. He’s family.
