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Um Raquba (Sudan) (AFP)
Thousands of people fled the war in Ethiopia with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
Now, in the Um Raquba camp in neighboring Sudan, dozens of destitute refugees from the fighting in the northern Tigray region flock to Omar Ibrahim’s makeshift tailor shop every day.
Using a stand-up sewing machine that he rents from a local villager, Ibrahim helps his fellow refugees recover from the horrors of war and forced flight, making new clothes for them and repairing holes in old ones.
“I came here a month ago” from the town of Humera in Tigray, Ibrahim tells AFP as he sews a new red and white cotton dress.
“I had nothing with me or anything to do. Sitting idly would never have helped my situation, so I decided to do the only thing I know: sewing.”
– ‘I came here with nothing’ –
Ibrahim explains that he reached an agreement with a Sudanese villager in Um Raquba. In exchange for the use of the rusted sewing machine, he gives half of his earnings to his owner.
“Now I’m happier than when I arrived,” says the 25-year-old tailor, who owns a shop in Humera equipped with three sewing machines.
In her hometown, she specialized in making women’s clothing.
In Um Raquba camp, a sprawling refugee settlement that the UN says currently houses some 13,000 refugees, she mends and sews new clothes for men, women and children.
“When I give people new clothes to wear, they feel happy because they came here with nothing,” says Ibrahim, who wears a white tailor’s tape measure around his shoulders.
Despite the pain and loss he has suffered, he remains driven by belief in self-reliance and the importance of serving his community.
“When you do good things for people, you receive good things from the world,” he says.
– ‘A person’ –
Some 49,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government launched a deadly offensive against the ruling party in the Tigray region on November 4.
Living in a series of camps scattered along Sudan’s border with Ethiopia, most refugees must depend on aid to survive.
Many simply do not have the means to pay Ibrahim for his services, so he charges according to his means.
“If they can pay me, I’ll charge them. But if they don’t have money, I’ll help them for free,” he says. “We are all one people.”
While using the foot pedal to operate his sewing machine, Ibrahim describes his last days in Humera.
“There was so much bombing, and there were many dead that we could not bury,” says the tailor.
Now, in Um Raquba, he cares for his elderly parents who decided to stay in Humera.
His work as a tailor helps him both to earn a living and to combat his sadness.
“I am no better than the others. I have to work for a living. Thank God I am alive. I saw so many corpses,” he says.
– ‘Help the people’ –
Ibrahim’s attention turns to Salam, a 25-year-old mother of three who comes to the store with a pair of jeans for her nine-year-old son Emmanuel that needs to be repaired.
The entrance to the store is through a curtain made of an old gray cloth. Like many of the shelters in which refugees live, the ceilings and walls are constructed of plastic sheeting and brush.
With his youngest son, Eyoub, tied behind his back with a cotton scarf, Salam tells AFP that jeans are his oldest son’s only pants.
“I came here to fix them because they have a hole,” he says.
“We fled Tigray to save the lives of the children. But we have no other clothes to wear other than what we have. I have to fix these pants so my son can wear them.”
Ibrahim repairs the hole in a matter of minutes and charges Salam 50 Sudanese pounds (20 cents).
Salomon, a 29-year-old man in a dusty gray T-shirt and jeans, praises Ibrahim for his work.
“Help people,” says Salomon, adding that if it weren’t for the refugee tailor, many would have nothing to wear.
“He makes our dresses good again.”
© 2020 AFP
