Tortured pharmacist thanks Jersey charity for holiday

Tuesday 06 August 2019

A Sudanese pharmacist and mother, who fled her country after being tortured and beaten by government forces for providing free medical aid to others, has thanked a Jersey charity for providing her first holiday in years after her traumatic escape.

The special trip for Hanna and her young daughter Rehaf, whose names have been changed for their safety, was made possible thanks to the Prisoners of Conscience Holiday Fund Jersey (POCHFJ), a little-known island charity endeavour offering friendship and hospitality to prisoners of conscience and survivors of torture.

While in Jersey, she took the time to share her story with Express…

“I wanted to do pharmacy ever since I was a little girl. Since I was in secondary school, I liked chemistry very much,” Darfur-born Hanna recalls.

It was that passion that drove her to qualifying in the practice, and later even go on to marry a pharmacist. Not only was Hanna linked to her husband via profession, but the pair also had a shared vision of helping others.

Having married in 2011, the duo decided to “help the people who live in a poor village”, deciding take part in a small mobile clinic where they could put their skills to benevolent use.

Pictured: Hanna had to flee her country with her husband over fears for their lives.

The group, who were funded by donations from “wealthy people”, was made up of three doctors, two pharmacists and two technicians.

“The doctors would speak to the patient and diagnose the disease, and we were giving the medication for them. The technicians were like microbiologists – they help with stool tests and urine tests,” Hanna explained.

Most commonly they would find themselves supporting children and adults with basic drugs like paracetamol and antibiotics, but they also came across more serious issues like dysentery. Severe thyroid problems, which could cause “uncomfortable” swelling of the neck and cause hormonal issues, were also particularly prevalent in women.

“We gave them drugs for thyroid and cod liver oil. There is a deficiency in this mineral in the sand, they grow a lot of vegetables there. So it happens through the food.”

Raging in the background, however, was a brutal conflict in Sudan, with government forces battling against rebel groups. 

Pictured: Paracetamol was one of the basic drugs handed out by the mobile pharmacy.

The clinic itself wasn’t aligned to any group – but that didn’t stop trouble coming knocking at the clinic door one day in the form of accusations of supporting the anti-government rebel group, JEM (Justice and Equality Movement).

“Two people from security services came to the pharmacy while we were working and told us if you would like to leave in peace and safely we should stop, and we denied because we never helped them. Nothing happened after that and we arranged another mobile clinic. They give us caution and told us not to provide a mobile clinic service but we decided to continue providing this service."

However, at a later clinic in December 2011, a member of JEM came for treatment.

“We were opening the clinic for everyone – and when people from JEM came to the clinic, they are also people that need treatment… We did not support JEM or any other organisation. It aligned with our belief to give all people access to healthcare.”

Days later, two more people from JEM came. “While they were treated, the bullets came, and they arrested everyone in the clinic and we were accused of supporting JEM, all of us accused, everyone.”

The group were blindfolded and taken to detention centres. The women and men were split up, and both groups subject to heavy questioning – and violent abuse.

Pictured: Hanna was tortured while detained, but says she was "lucky" not to have been raped or sexually abused like many other women at the hands of government forces.

“With their boots, they kick people very hard, in the face, they smash. They do that to women. Sometimes they rape the woman, but I am lucky,” Hanna remembers, adding that she was later forced to sign an “admission of guilt” even though the allegations weren't true, and subsequently photographed and fingerprinted.

“On the evening of the third day, I hear shooting and then this turned out to be a member of JEM coming to release because they take everybody in the mobile clinic including the two persons from JEM. People from JEM came to release their friend.

“They took their friend and us to a camp where JAM were based, and my husband contacted his father the next day, who told him he had also been arrested because and held for several hours."

Having escaped, Hanna and her husband knew they would no longer be safe in the country they once called home, and worked with her husband’s father to hatch a plan to leave.

What followed was a risky journey from city to city avoiding the authorities before finally boarding a cargo ship. “We don’t have anything. In the cargo ship we just ate tuna, food in tins,” Hanna said.

“I was very worried all the time because we can’t believe we will arrive safely. We think we will be killed anytime because a lot of people in our situation they killed, killed in the cell by physical abuse and by torture.”

Pictured: Hanna has high hopes for her young daughter, who starts school this year.

Fortunately, they finally arrived in Belfast in early 2012, where Hanna vividly remembers the biting cold – “I had never experienced cold like that, I was wearing light clothes… I was crying because I feel freezing. I feel shivers, and my hands were freezing, everything.”

There, the pair were able to claim asylum and sought about rebuilding their lives. But the ordeal left Hanna traumatised and “depressed” for many months – so much so, that she had to take medication, and “lost three babies”. “That increased my sadness.”

But eventually she had a daughter, Rahaf, and her life started to brighten as she began looking to convert her qualifications for use in the UK.

She has now moved to the mainland while her husband stays in Northern Ireland, and is studying towards a PhD at a UK university, helping others by interpreting Arabic in hospitals and looking after her little daughter who is looking forward to starting school this year.

She is hopeful for the future, and wants to give her daughter the brightest possible prospects. Emphasising the importance of education for women, she explains: “Women should become independent. In our country, all the women depend on their husbands. They stay at home, they don’t go outside to work. If the husband makes anything for her, she has obligation to stay with him because financially the woman depends on her husband. But I encourage people to become independent to help themselves.”

Hanna keeps an eye on the news at home – recently, the internet was blacked out in Sudan for more than a month, stunting her contact with her family – but admits it can make her very upset.

Pictured: Hanna says reading the news about what's happening in Sudan can be upsetting for her.

“I just stop everything when I look at these videos on Facebook. My brother or sister could appear on the video at any time. After that, I always phone my brother or sister, ‘Where are you? Where are you? Are you ok?’

“My brother is arrested in 2013 for seven days. I was [in the UK]. My family don’t know where is he, they were looking for a long time, and he hasn’t done anything. There were just a few people protesting in front of our house and he was just looking and he opened the door and they arrest him and hit him and take him in the car… My father is arrested from while to while because he is an activist, a solicitor.”

She therefore describes herself as extremely grateful for her first break in many years – “this holiday will help me get rid of stress,” she notes, as she looks out across St. Brelade’s Bay.

Most of all, it is a special moment for her daughter. Hanna smiles as she recalls how her daughter, having heard only about beachy holidays from her nursery friends, had finally got to enjoy the beach for herself the day before.

“My daughter is very happy – yesterday she was walking, running around the beach. Playing in the sand.”

Pictured: Hanna said that she and her daughter were thankful for the opportunity to holiday in Jersey and visit "beautiful" beaches like St. Brelade's.

Hanna and Rehaf are just two of many individuals to have been helped by the POCHFJ over the years.

Last year, Yemeni refugee Ahmed Hussein Al-Kolaibi, told Express that his respite break in Jersey and the kindness he received from locals last summer was “an experience that will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

Chair of the POCHF Jurat Collette Crill says these life-changing holidays for prisoners of conscience and torture survivors are only possible thanks to the “generosity” of islanders, who either give their money or time – even if it’s something as simple as giving one of the visitors a tour of Jersey, or inviting them round for a cup of tea.

Many of the experiences, she says, result in strong friendships, with many of the grateful holidayers keeping in touch with those that have hosted them.

The charity relies on pledged five-year ‘deeds of covenant’ from Jersey supporters, one-off donations, as well as donations for specific visitors. However, Jurat Crill says they could do with more to help continue their work in helping those who have suffered.

Those interested in helping continue the charity’s work can contact Jurat Crill via email.