These moments are unforgettable, affirming that Karama, beyond being a platform for policy influence, is creating a space for connection, learning, and mutual empowerment.

Climate Activism Saving Lives

I remember before the war, before the displacement, there was a village we used to go to during vacation. Once, I was returning from the regional summit conference. I had learned a lot about climate change, so I came and spoke with them. I told them, “Brothers, there are climate changes that will happen in the world. There will be rain, for example, there is a desert in northern Sudan and we depend completely on agriculture, especially date palm cultivation, and if the crop is exposed to a certain amount of rain, the dates will fail or the crop will spoil.”

So I spoke with him and we must see solutions. The houses there are made of mud, and any rain that falls, it affects the houses, the houses are demolished, meaning floods and many things happen, a lot of damage. So I was talking to them and told them, even the adults, even the decision makers. In my region, they weren’t convinced of this need. They saw it as impossible. I mean, we haven’t had rain for years, so why would it happen now? 

They were completely against the idea, but in part, he was convinced and tried, and thank God, we are among the people who were convinced of the change in the area. They started to address the roofs of the houses, adapting them so that when the rain falls, it prevents it from entering the houses or rooms. 

Thank God, there are people who took it upon themselves to research the issue and understood it with me, and they were not harmed. I came after I was displaced from Khartoum and came to the North for the second time. They told me, “You’re right, Zohra. What you said was true. It turned out that climate changes had occurred and the rains had increased significantly. There were torrents and floods.”

Building Resilience

When I came here to Egypt, I did not stop working. I did an initiative with Karama talking about how displaced girls or refugees who come from war are exposed to psychological trauma or psychological pressure. It can mean difficulties in life, in everything, they lost everything and are starting over, education, everything, meaning all the basics of life for them have become impossible.

I was one of them, so I benefited from the information I took about psychological resilience. I am trying to use this idea of safe space because I have the information and I have the tools. There are still many in the region, who were unable to overcome this. So, I wanted to provide an initiative that would provide psychological support and provide them with a workshop that would show them how to overcome these problems.

God willing, they are working on it again, which is something else that I am very happy about.

When I came here to Egypt, life stopped, university stopped, so I had no choice. I had to work to provide for myself or to have a source of income. I worked as a teacher at the Health Sciences School.

I sat and talked to the students about climate change and its impact on us, and about climate justice. I tried to convey the big information, the big things in the simplest ways. For example, I would tell them the concept of climate justice, or the language of climate. I would tell them we should not be doing what worsens climate change, we should focus on the things we can do to alleviate it - that this action will come back to us with a huge, tremendous return for us as a society, as an environment. So, I am very happy with the change that has happened to me intellectually.

At first, it was very difficult to be in a different country, but I was able to overcome this stage. I was helped by the training we had through Wa’ed, the training from UNICEF, from participating in a regional conference. I was able to participate in COP27, with videos. These opportunities all helped my CV, in addition to helping me with thinking and reflection. They helped me to find a job. I am so grateful to Wa’ed for that.

Experiencing the Power of Girls’ Leadership

The most pivotal moment for me was my participation in the Arab regional summit, representing Sudan, with the participation of Wa’ed. I felt like I was not there for myself but I was representing my community.

With my friends at first, when I was working on it, most of them used to say to me “you know what the world is,   you can’t change anything because these are things from people who are bigger, from the people who are decision makers.” But to go to Jordan, to be at something that was very big, I mean, even my family, even all the friends, after that, were interested when they saw the influence. They were interested and they came to ask me about it. 

At first, they weren’t paying attention to me, and it was difficult to reach the girls, but after the summit, they came, and even the girls came to add their voice to mine, and at that moment, I felt the value of my voice as a girl, as a young woman among leaders and decision-makers, and I was able to convey the suffering of girls affected by the war in Sudan. I was able to make my voice heard. 

That was so powerful, before that even I didn’t really appreciate it. But after the summit, I was able to understand that yes, you can reach out, your voice has been heard, and you can make change happen.

It was an important position that you can bring about real change in society and strengthened you as a community leader capable of influencing not only locally, but regionally and globally.

Creating Change with Girls, for Girls

I really hope to see a real change in the coming years. I want to return to Sudan, to launch my own small initiative, for example, in a school or the community, or to enhance environmental awareness. To talk about the climate, about its importance, about the changes, about all the things that are happening around us and we are not aware of them.

I want to talk to girls about their rights and on a broader level use my experience with the Wa’ed Network to be a real voice for girls in regional conferences and initiatives, especially on climate and education. I want to reach them so that they feel that their voice reaches others. I want to return stronger with support from partner organizations, so that girls will have a place to learn, discuss, and express themselves. To provide the basics such as education, health, etc.

I hope we are able to get more opportunities, and especially more chances to meet face-to-face, so that the interaction would be more real than online. But in all of this, I am really, really grateful, really grateful to Karama and to Wa’ed.

They have literally changed the path of not just one person, but also many girls around the world, because the impact is on the students, which is me and the ones I teach. I feel that now, as a teacher, I have made a change. I have taken the students, young girls, to school. I teach them how to be independent, how they should be, ambitious and passionate about changing their lives and their future.

I made a change in the girls who were with me there in the village.

I conveyed to them all the things I learned, meaning that dignity brings about real change, not only at the individual level, but also at the societal level. And God willing, I hope that, for example, in the next twenty years, the possibility of the next twenty years, we will have reached a larger scale, something larger than the world, that we will have an impact.