Imtiaz Sooliman – Evacuation of SA citizens from Sudan
AI: Summary ©
The ACBC is discussing the challenges faced by South Texans during the coronavirus crisis, including the lack of documents and the absence of people from other countries. The group discusses the emotional and psychological impact of the situation and how it has affected their own lives. They also mention the need for aid to other countries affected by the crisis.
AI: Summary ©
On this. We're joined via zoom by Doctor MTS, Sulaiman, founder of
gift of the givers. Doctor MTS, good afternoon. Thank you for
joining us here on the ACBC, good
afternoon, Lisa. Thank you very much so, Doctor MTS, we understand
that gift of the givers, as we've been involved in the evacuation of
South Africans in Sudan, perhaps you could talk to us through the
kind of support that you provided when
we got involved by accident. You know, on the seventh of April, we
started getting the first calls from South Africans panicking,
saying, The bombs are flowing everywhere. You want to come out
of the country. It's a it's a * hole, it's dangerous. They need to
get out and in that week, we started getting more calls from
South Africans. And then we realized, what the panic and, you
know, the anxiety, then we need to hold their hand, so we were
guiding them along the line. But they did very well themselves.
They arranged their own chat groups. They spoke to each other,
they supported each other. They said, what you got to do next? And
then we asked, okay, is there an airport available on your mind?
They said, it's bomb. You can't use it. I said, What about
alternative airports? And this found alternative airports, but by
the time all arrangements were made, airports closed because
those airports were taking military planes without holding
forces started fighting around those airports, so that wasn't
possible. The third option, and the only option left, was to go by
bus. North District. Could choose Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Port
Sudan or Egypt. Most people opted we were we opted for Egypt as the
best option. Some South Africans, through their companies, went to
port Sudan on their own, and you know, the company sort of got them
out from there. And then the Egypt option. When busses had to become
available, busses were in short supply, so you couldn't get busses
in Ari. When you got the busses, they wanted cash up front. You
couldn't do a bank transfer. There's no money. Banks are
closed, no credit card, no EFT. Unfortunately, their CO had some
money in embassy, and they managed to pay for the two busses
thereafter, of course, because of communication networks, we found
that on Sunday night, a lot of the messages didn't get through, so
four South Africans were left behind. That's when we decided to
put up an additional bus, because we couldn't leave anybody behind.
And earlier in the in the in the weekend, Turko was speaking to me
about other nationals also needing assistance to come out. So we
said, it's a free bus, anybody can get on. That the biggest challenge
on that was true. We needed cash money. And secondly, what Jason
spoke about earlier, the absence of documents. Absence of documents
is an absolute nightmare. On the border, people are stranded for
456, days because they don't have documents. They panic. It's 40
degrees heat, there's no water, there's no food, there's no
computer support. It just 1000s of people caught up in that mess, so,
you know. And then so the bus issue came, and the bus driver
said, No problem, you can have bus money up front. We didn't have
money up front. There was no cash. People could give any cash,
fortunately, because our networks, one of my team members, lived in
Sudan for seven years, I totally make the call, but in three
minutes, the bus driver said, all this money, take the bus, and you
got the bus four South Africa for the South Africans, and eventually
found more South Africans. So eight South Africans, two
Americans, one British, one Nigerian, one Zimbabwean, four
Palestinians and four Sudanese jumped onto that bus. The next
stage to get people from different areas to the bus is another
challenge. Yeah. Armored Personnel carries are moving, bombing and a
lot of other things happening. You know, the roads are closed,
fighting all over. So that is another challenge to get people to
the bus. But we got there, trying to enter it. And I think one part
we have to talk about the emotional, the psychological
issue, the impact has been huge on our own, South Africans and people
from all over the world, absolutely. Doctor. MTS, I think
for those who are not really aware of the situation at hand, how
severe is the situation in Sudan? I mean, are you considering
extending your aid to other countries as well who have been
have citizens stuck in Sudan, perhaps providing aid to Sudanese
nationals are also in need. Walk us through what your interventions
will also look like on that front going forward,
I would like to help everybody, but you can't help nationals from
another country. They have to be protected by their own government.
It's a diplomatic issue. South Africa can't stand guarantee for
somebody else. But while saying that, I mean they did well. Seven
Angolans got out on the first bus, and person got out on the first
bus, and South Africa helped both those nationals to come to the
border. You know, they made it. And the diplomatic started very
well on that issue. Then came the British and the two Americans. Now
we were involved specifically with Americans, because the eighth
person on the bus there was a family of seven, and the eighth
person was a lady who decided not to go the first time down and of
course, didn't get the message. And she and her family that just
for you, asked the challenges. They saw the shooting, they saw
the bombing. Her husband was even shot at the rubber bullet. They
saw people getting killed. They were totally traumatized, and they
just drove off 200 kilometers into the sun anyway, and got a place of
safety with some.