Sudan has been plunged into civil war for almost a year and now many Ghanaian students who were studying there fear their academic hopes and future is on the brink of collapse as well.
When the war broke out between the military in Sudan and the rebel rapid support forces, it forced many countries with citizens in Sudan to evacuate them. That included Ghana, with over 80 of its citizens stuck there.
Amongst the evacuees were 8 medical students, including Ayisha Mustapha. They were subsequently promised by government, to be integrated into the local medical school system. Nine months have passed and the students are still waiting for a positive word from government.
In an interview with TV3’s Judith Brown, Ayisha couldn’t hold back her tears when she recounted how valuable studying medicine is to her future and her family.
“You finally find yourself in medical school thinking you’re going to change the narrative of your family and this happens,” she bemoaned.
Ayisha Mustapha is 25 and has 2 years left to complete her medical education. But her schooling came to an abrupt halt when war struck. She says, she saw death while in Sudan.
“We felt we were just going to die any moment, so we were just worshipping God so that when the time comes, you’d find yourself in the act of worship. A friend of mine, a colleague and Ghanaian for that matter, missed a bullet,” she recounted.
Ever since the traumatic experience, Ayisha has never been the same. According to her, she stills experiences psychological trauma, even at the sound of Christmas Knockouts.
“This Christmas I really suffered because of the knockouts. Those sounds remind you of those gunshots. Sometimes, I fall down crawling thinking it’s the bullets”.
Despite her desperation to complete school, Ayisha says, efforts by her colleagues and herself to reach both the Ministry of Education and Foreign Affairs have proven futile. Hence her education is still on hold.
“We haven’t heard from the government, we have written several letters to them. I think yesterday, we submitted our third letter to the Office of the Vice President; we’ve not heard from them,” she stated.
According to her, “My parents and siblings are doing everything in their power to make life comfortable for me.”
For Ayisha’s family, hopes of her completing school are now bleak.
Amina Mustapha is Ayisha’s sister. She recounts the ordeal of her sister.
“She was doing her internship at the General Hospital, she had to stop. She said the trauma, people are asking, when are you going, what are you doing, a lot of questions.”
Aminu Abubakar, also a victim of the war, resorted to helping his mother in the sale of gadgets.
This he says, is the only way to overcome the unending questions on what he’s doing with his life.
“If you are a student who is in this kind of situation and you don’t have anything doing or anything going, or you don’t really have any handywork to do, you become like a liability to the family and to the society,” he lamented.
A pharmacy student with only a year remaining, Aminu is now completely unsure of what the future holds.
“We tried to reach the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but it wasn’t possible, we met with the officer in charge of the foreign students’ bureau, but he gave us assurances that if we followed the protocol which we did, we will get a response in due time, but still no response.”
It’s evident how desperate these students are to complete schooling, and they say deadlines promised by the Ministry of Education have not been met.
The Director of Tertiary Education at the Ministry directed us to the Minister of Education for a response. With no response from government, it seems the students would be waiting for a while longer.