Sudan’s war steals children’s future with school closures and displacement

Nine-year-old Abkar Mohammed works cleaning and polishing shoes on the streets of Port Sudan every day. He arrived in the eastern Sudanese city with his mother and three siblings from Khartoum days after the country’s armed conflict erupted on April 15, 2023.Abkar lost his father before the war began and the family live in a rented a home in al-Kasara, a low-income neighbourhood in Port Sudan.Due to the family’s financial situation, he doesn’t go to school but does attend classes at a traditional “khalwa” where he learns the Quran.“When my lesson finishes, I pick up my shoe-cleaning equipment and head to busy areas to work,” he told Al Jazeera. “In the evening, I take public transport home, making sure I get back before sunset.”He gets around 1,000 Sudanese pounds ($0.11) to clean or stitch a pair of shoes, and by the end of the day, he earns around 10,000 pounds ($1.08). He gives the money to his mother to cover the family’s daily needs.“My 23-year-old brother works on casual jobs in the markets to cover most of the household expenses,” he said.Abkar’s story echoes the lives of eight million of the country’s 17 million school-age children who are out of school, according to UNICEF...