Mama Nour’s fight for Single Mothers and Orphaned Children: How the EU Trust Fund supports vulnerable migrants in Sudan

Nour Hussein Al Sewaty Mohammed, widely known as Mama Nour, is a Sudanese woman and founder of the Shama’a (Candle) Organization. Orphaned at a young age and raised in Maygoma, Sudan’s largest orphanage, she overcame significant personal hardships to pursue an education. In 2007, she established Shama’a to support marginalized women and children, offering services such as shelter, education, and social reintegration. 

On 15 April 2023, a violent internal  conflict erupted in Sudan, disrupting daily life and severely impacting humanitarian operations in Khartoum. In response to the escalating violence, Mama Nour evacuated 20 women and children, including pregnant women and infants, to Wad Medani, a place that promised safety.

“The war wrecked all the efforts we had made since 2007,” she stated, describing the chaos that followed. 

However, as the conflict spread, Wad Medani also became unsafe by December 2023, prompting another relocation. The group eventually reached Port Sudan, where they initially stayed in an overcrowded public school with limited facilities. 

Seeking a more secure environment, Mama Nour reached the authorities who allocated an old building for temporary shelter, named Shamaa Shelter. 

“We finally reached safety, but we faced significant challenges, starting with finding food and water,” she said. 

The EU Trust Fund and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as implementing partner, has supported Shamaa Shelter with the extensive rehabilitation of its infrastructure, including the renovation of rooms, washrooms, kitchen facilities, and the storage area. These improvements have significantly enhanced hygiene, comfort, and overall living conditions, contributing to residents’ sense of dignity, safety, and psychological well-being. The provision of essential furniture and non-food items has further improved the quality of life for shelter residents, making the space feel more like home. In parallel, the project has provided  monthly food assistance to all Gender Based Violence (GBC) survivors and their children, including infants. The shelter’s capacity to offer protection and safety has been notably strengthened, with immediate access to basic services such as food, accommodation, medical care, and psychological support. Many residents have expressed an increased sense of security, describing the shelter as a place where they finally feel safe. Additionally, through the EU-funded Sudan Better Migration Management Project, IOM is supporting the regular presence of a psychologist at the shelter three times a week, actively working with all GBV survivors

“Now we have a house that is almost fully equipped,” she noted, as efforts continue to furnish and supply the facility to better serve accommodating mothers and children in need of this assistance.

More on the project 

Since 2000, the EUTF project “Protection of Persons of Concern (PoC) and vulnerable migrants along migratory routes in Sudan” aims at strengthening migration management through improved protection of vulnerable migrants along Sudan’s migratory routes. 

The objective of the action is to contribute to improve the management of mixed migration flows in Sudan and to improve the protection of PoC and other vulnerable migrants along the Northern migration route.

The main beneficiaries of this action are Persons of Concern (PoC) and other vulnerable migrants, as well as first responders and shelter service providers working on anti-trafficking in human beings or smuggling of migrants in Sudan.