Africa-Press – South-Sudan. For Suad Mohamed, the hardest part of the journey wasn’t the broken-down trucks or the rain that soaked through the group’s supplies. It was the three years of silence. Three years of waiting for a war to pause long enough for a science student to pick up a pen and prove her worth.
Suad is a member of the “Darfur 300,” a group of students—including 200 young women—who recently completed a gruelling 1,138-kilometre trek from Al-Daein in Sudan’s East Darfur State to Juba, South Sudan. Their mission was simple but daunting: to sit for the Sudanese Certificate examinations, an opportunity denied to them since conflict tore through their homeland.
A Classroom on Wheels
The journey took them through Aweil and Wau before finally reaching the South Sudanese capital. Along the way, the students transformed their transport vehicles into mobile study halls. “We departed from Al-Daein and used every stop to study as a group,” Suad recalled. “We helped each other revise and passed the time during the long trip.”
While the rain presented a physical obstacle, the psychological weight of the trip was heavier. Saladin Adam Bilal Al-Kabashi, a biology student, described the anxiety of watching the clock.
Vehicle breakdowns and slow-moving convoys threatened to make them late for the very exams they had waited three years to take. “We faced delays that made us worry we might not arrive on time,” Saladin said. “But thank God, we reached Juba just hours before the exams began.”
The Only Safe Option
For these students, Juba was not just a destination; it was a sanctuary. Marwa Hamad, another student in the group, explained that they had previously attempted to sit for the exams in eastern Sudan, but the intensifying conflict made it impossible.
“Juba became the only safe option for us,” Marwa said. She noted that while many students felt discouraged after years of academic stagnation, the shared journey restored their spirits. “It felt like a school trip because we travelled together and supported each other. We arrived safely and did not feel like strangers—we felt at home.”
A 15-Day Test of Resilience
The examinations are expected to run for 15 days. For these 300 learners, the 15-page booklets represent more than just academic grades—they are a victory over the war that tried to erase their futures.
Despite the fatigue and the memory of the road behind them, the group says they are finally ready. As Suad put it, reaching Juba “removed all the exhaustion.” The pens are now moving, and for the first time in three years, the only thing these students have to focus on is the answer on the page.
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