Finding her long-lost mother and brother: Mariam’s story.

Nothing foreshadowed such tragic events.

From her hometown El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in Sudan, 17-years-old Mariam (name has been changed to protect her privacy) now only recalls mixed memories.

A few months earlier, Mariam was living with an uncle after her parents separated. Her mother and younger brother had moved to another town. When the war broke out in Khartoum, Sudan, in April 2023 reaching El Geneina a few weeks later, Mariam, her father and her maternal uncle immediately decided to flee.

They boarded a car towards the border with Chad, in an attempt to escape the gunmen who were attacking people. But their journey was cut short by a violent attack that left her father dead and her uncle seriously injured. Of the three, only the girl escaped.

After a long and lonely walk, Mariam ended up in Adré, the Chadian town close to the border with Sudan. Mariam was first relocated to the Farchana refugee camp, where a refugee family decided to look after her. A new life began for the girl, without her father and uncle and even less so her mother and brother, whom she had not heard from.

While trying to deal with the trauma by keeping her feelings to herself, Mariam is slowly opening up while taking part in activities at the UNICEF-supported child friendly, where she also receives psychosocial support. After voluntarily joining a group of refugees organizing cleaning works at the Farchana school, she started to blend into the community.

In the meantime, UNICEF in partnership with the Chadian Red Cross, was raising awareness on the protection of unaccompanied and separated children among the population in Farchana. As a result, Mariam was identified and registered by a community worker.

Then, one day, came the good news: the Chadian Red Cross's family tracing programme, supported by UNICEF, had located Mariam's mother and younger brother, who also arrived in Chad a few days after her arrival.

Mariam now lives with her mother and brother in Farchana and has returned to school. She is in the 5th grade and dreams of making a difference for children affected by conflicts.

Thanks to financial support from the Norwegian government, UNICEF and the Chadian Red Cross have facilitated the reunification of 95 unaccompanied and separated children (49 girls and 46 boys) with their parents since the beginning of the crisis in Sudan.