She had not yet heard the rumble of guns when, on the morning of Saturday, April 15, her colleagues knocked on the door of her room on the mezzanine floor of the hostel. Doctors Without BordersV Khartoum. They had to be in a safe place, immediately. Having descended into the underground shelter, for the first time he heard the sounds of the civil strife that had just erupted. OUR psychologist Glykeria Kukuliata she would remain there for several days, trapped with other members of the humanitarian organization, until the onslaught of fighting ceased.

“Shooting and bombing from one point, and then somehow you get used to them. At first you can’t fall asleep, at some point you manage to close your eyes, and then the guns wake up again. But hearing gets used. says Mrs Cuculiata “K”.who returned to Greece on 28 April. “What is unusual is the sound of airstrikes. In the last three days before our move, they became more frequent. The only thought that crossed my mind every time the planes flew by was that we might be a collateral loss.”

baptism by fire

This mission to Africa was a baptism of fire for the Greek psychologist. He had previously worked with other refugee organizations and traveled to Sudan in late February. As a member of Médecins Sans Frontières, he had to supervise and support the work of the organization’s mental health professionals at the city’s university hospital. El Jenina. There, the organization operated children’s wards and hospital feeding centres, infection prevention measures, and water and sanitation services prior to the outbreak of hostilities. A third of Sudan’s population was already considered food insecure and the situation is now expected to worsen.

Clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces found Ms. Kukuliata and other members of the organization in Khartoum. They were locked in an underground shelter, with mattresses on the floor and enough food to last at least ten days. They used provisions sparingly because they did not know how long they would be imprisoned. Luckily for them, they were able to connect to the Internet for a week. Ms. Koukuliata communicated with relatives and friends in Greece, as well as with the department of the organization in Athens. They were waiting for the right opportunity to break free. As long as the warring parties did not comply with the ceasefire agreements, the members of the organization had nowhere to run.

The first hours of the collisions were chaotic. According to MSF announcements, hospitals in Northern Darfur they were forced to close, either due to their proximity to the fighting, or due to the inability of personnel to reach them. During the month and a half that Ms. Kukuliata spent in Sudan, she said, she did not feel safe. On the eve of the fighting, they had dinner with other members of the group in a shopping center in Khartoum. She was Ramadan periodat sunset there were more people in the streets and, as he remembers, there was nothing to predict what would follow at dawn.

In the shelter were also her colleagues in the organization, who had experience from other troubled corners of the planet and tried to calm her down. “On the first day there was fear, anxiety, uncertainty, then they were replaced by disappointment. You think how many more days we can stay here,” he notes. “All people involved in such missions are prepared for such circumstances. Although this was my first mission, I was completely calm and confident in the team that they would do everything possible for our safety.”

“The noise echoed through the room, the walls and small windows shaking. The sound of silence was often followed by an explosion that never lasted long,” said Camille Marquis, MSF Advocacy Manager, in her affidavit on the fifth day of their stay at the shelter. Sudan.

On the ninth day after the clashes began, they were transported by vans to a safer part of Sudan, and then the organization transported them to a neighboring country. Ms. Kukuliata’s assignment was to last six months, and she herself wanted to ask for an extension for another month. So far, her return is unlikely. The Organization has deployed other emergency teams to provide services to the Sudanese people as far as possible.

“Still there my mind”

According to Médecins Sans Frontières, parts of the university hospital in El Jenin were looted and there were reports of destruction and burning of property in the city. “I still think about Sudan,” emphasizes Ms. Kukuliata. “I think of residents, colleagues, patients who are left behind.”