Lost and Found: How one Father Found His Calling Through His Displacement Journey

“It was hard to leave our warm home in Um Sider, but I am happy to help our community here”.
For Mohammed*, this was not the first time that conflict has forced him to uproot his family and move. Originally from Um Sider village in Kutum, Darfur, Mohammed left for Libya after graduating high school in hopes of finding work to provide for his family. Unfortunately for Mohammed, the fighting that has wracked Libya forced him and his family to return to Sudan. 
Since 2014, he and his wife and young daughters have been living in Abassi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp along 9,775 others, who were displaced due to the continuing conflict in Darfur.
In Um Sider, Mohammed made a humble income from farming and animal keeping; enough to cover the family’s needs. But Um Sider, like other villages in Darfur, was not safe from the sporadic violence impacting Darfur’s communities since 2003. But for Mohammed, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Not only did he find safety and refuge at Abassi Camp, but through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the National Planning Organization’s (NPO) livelihood opportunities at Abassi Camp, Mohammed, along with 29 others, was recruited and trained as a Community Health Worker. Not only did he find purpose as a Community Health Worker, but he was also able to give back to his community by supporting them in tackling Covid-19 and providing community-based health and nutrition services. 
Building upon decades of work with communities in Darfur, IOM and NPO, through the generous funding of USAID, recruit displaced residents of Abassi Camp and train them as Community Health Workers under an initiative that aims to provide community-based health and nutrition services, at the same providing them with livelihood opportunities within the Camp. 
Mohammed and his colleagues continue to work as Community Health Workers to provide health services within the camp and to 8,000 others in the surrounding host community. 
“I feel empowered to be able to address the community’s needs, and to provide support and assistance wherever I can” said Mohammed, who works with the Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC), which addresses poor health, hygiene, and nutrition within the Camp. “I hope to continue my work and help my community, until the day comes where we are able to return to our homes”. 

*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.
Story written by Wigdan Mohamad, email: wmohamad@iom.int.