Child Protection

Testimonies from Children Who Survived the War in Sudan. War doesn’t explain itself to children. It doesn’t stop to offer political context or military briefings. It arrives as the sound of gunfire, the sudden silence of a parent who left and didn’t return, the moment everything safe becomes dangerous. Since April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has forced millions of people to flee. More than half are children. They aren’t numbers. They’re boys and girls who had homes, routines, school uniforms, and friendships. Children who should have been worried about homework, not survival. This report shares what some of these children told us, not through formal interviews, but through drawings. In Trauma Rescue Aid’s psychosocial support sessions, children were given paper, crayons, and a quiet space. No instructions. No pressure. They simply drew what was already living in their minds. What they shared is difficult and painfully clear. These drawings are direct testimonies from children aged 5 to 9, many of them survivors of violence and displacement. And maybe they’re asking the world to pay attention. How These Drawings Came to Be. These artworks were created during TRAID’s child-friendly psychosocial support sessions with displaced Sudanese children. Creative expression and basic art therapy are part of how TRAID helps young survivors begin to process trauma safely. Participation was voluntary. Each child explained their drawing in their own words when they finished. We kept their descriptions exactly as they said them. Only first names and ages are used to protect their privacy. Families agreed for these stories to be shared so the world could understand what Sudan’s children are living through.