Feature: A glimpse into Sudanese life amid scorching summer heat

The Star

5 days ago

KHARTOUM, July 9 (Xinhua) -- It was 2 p.m. in a displacement camp on the outskirts of Port Sudan, where the relentless sun had already pushed the mercury past 45 degrees Celsius.
Inside a battered tent, its fabric frayed and threadbare, 70-year-old Sadia Abdel-Faraj's frail body shivered -- not from cold, but from the oppressive heat, which has seeped through large swaths of the war-torn country.
Her daughter, Wamda, presses a damp cloth to her skin while her granddaughter fans her with a hababa, a traditional palm-frond fan. Yet, the air was so scorching that the breeze from the hababa seemed to burn as well.
"I suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes," Abdel-Faraj told Xinhua, struggling for breath. "With no electricity, we rely on soaked cloths and the hababa to survive this unbearable summer."
She has stopped using insulin, essential for managing her diabetes, because without refrigeration, it spoils. "I tried using ice packs, but it didn't work," she said.
"My mother's temperature has been high since yesterday. The tent, made of fabric and plastic, supported by iron poles, traps the heat and reflects it back like a fire," Wamda, the woman's daughter, told Xinhua.
In Khartoum, Sudan's capital, the ongoing heatwave has intensified the daily hardships for residents, who are already coping with frequent power outages and severe shortages of electricity and water.
In the Al-Inqaz neighborhood in southern Khartoum, 47-year-old Ethar Ahmed sits on a simple wooden bed, wetting her clothes -- a traditional way to cope with the sweltering heat.
"Life here is suffocating. No electricity, no water, no air conditioners, and we cannot afford solar panels. My children suffer, some have fallen ill from the heat. Our only hope is the rainy season, which has been unusually late this year," she noted.
In Al-Goled, far northern Sudan, residents describe their homes as "burning ovens."
Ali Al-Zubair, a local resident, said, "This is the hottest summer in northern Sudan. We can't stay indoors during the day. We sit under trees or bathe in the river. Women hang wet mats over windows to cool the air."
The Sudan Meteorological Authority warned in a statement on Wednesday that heatwaves in Khartoum, Port Sudan, and Dongola have pushed temperatures above 47 degrees Celsius amid repeated power outages.
Abu Al-Qasim Ibrahim, head of the authority's Early Warning Unit, linked the heat to the intensifying Sudan "thermal low" moving north and east.
"This extreme weather, driven by climate change, requires urgent official and public action," Ibrahim said.
"Precautions for public health and preparation for outbreaks and extreme weather are necessary," he noted.
Sudan's Ministry of Health has also warned of the possible health consequences of the heatwave.
In a report issued on Tuesday, the Ministry's Emergency Operations Center announced meningitis outbreak, with 186 reported cases, including 15 deaths, across seven different states within one week.
"Temperatures are rising sharply in central, eastern, and northern Sudan," environmental expert Taj El-Sir Bashir warned. "This threatens agriculture and food security, especially amid ongoing war."
During the intense summer heat, the longstanding power shortages have made daily life extremely hard. Sudan experiences power outages lasting up to 18 hours each day in cities such as Omdurman, north of the capital Khartoum.
According to the forecast by the authorities, Sudan's blistering heat is set to persist. The Sudanese people, already bearing the heavy toll of civil war, now face the prospect of enduring an even oppressive summer.