Stop the war for the sake of Ramadan
By: Alaa Babiker
The Holy month of Ramadan is less than 1 month ahead. It is the month of Mercy and forgiveness. Everyone collaborate and work one hand, check on each other on a daily basis, and provide and distribute food and all different types of traditional drinks.
In Sudan; Ramadan used to be the greatest month of the year, everyone waited for this month to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, and to stand as one group and one nation. Every Sudanese use to wait for these days with so much enthusiasm and happiness; specially women, who used to make preparedness of Ramadan drinks and different types of food which used to start about 2 months before the holy month; which represents the uniqueness of this month in Sudan.
The preparedness of the unique drink (Hilo-Mur) starts about two months before Ramadan; all the female members of the family gather to make the Hilo-Mur from scratch, not to forget the preparedness of the try foods as well; onions, carrots ,and potatoes, along with different types of fruits just waiting for the Holy month of Ramadan to come.
This year, Sudan has never witnessed in its entire history such situation. Ramadan has never been this difficult for all the Sudanese. It used to be the month of Holy, Mercy, and forgiveness. No one felt hungry in Ramadan, and today people are dying of hunger. Everyone used to provide food even to strangers on the streets, and today we are all strangers!
This year, no house in the Capital of Khartoum is entirely secure. No family is feeling safe. The population of Sudan is witnessing for the first time the most difficult situations one can live in the Holy month of Ramadan. If the leaders of Sudan were to hear ours message as population; we say please stop the war, please save Sudan population, we have gone through enough, and it is time to rise as one nation. Let’s take this month as a new start, the war started in Ramadan and may it ends before the coming Holy month.
In the end, may God grant wisdom upon our leaders to and this war before the first day of Ramadan and stop the suffering; we are losing lives, we are losing resources and this needs to stop. Let’s have the month of Mercy and forgiveness nourish our lives with much security and stability.