Sudan's first bicycle courier finds new life in Cairo

DW (English)

Salma Awad risked her life delivering medicine in conflict zones in Sudan. Now in Cairo, she keeps pedaling to survive.

Transcript

00:00Cairo, Egypt, Salma Awad's new home.

00:07Every day the Sudanese woman does what she loves best, ride a bike.

00:23It was a wonderful feeling as a child.

00:25Whenever I got some money at parties I immediately spent it on a bike.

00:30In her home country of Sudan, Salma was the first female bicycle courier,

00:39supplying people with medicine in the first months of the war in 2023.

00:43Today Salma is a refugee in Egypt.

00:46She makes deliveries here too.

00:48These are mostly small jobs such as bringing batteries to customers.

00:52The language is no obstacle in her new country.

00:55The Egyptians speak Arabic like she does.

00:58Even if the pay is low, Salma sees the positive side of the job.

01:05By cycling I automatically exercise and keep fit.

01:09It distracts me from my problems and brings me at least a small income.

01:17Salma does not let her mood get spoiled quickly.

01:19She's one of almost a million Sudanese who have fled to Egypt.

01:23War is still raging in Sudan, so she can't imagine returning right now.

01:28But others can.

01:30Cairo's main railway station has been very busy in recent weeks.

01:35Hundreds of Sudanese families want to go back as the fighting has subsided in some areas of Sudan.

01:40I'm so looking forward to going home, talking to family and friends.

01:47I miss everything about Sudan.

01:49Salma says she sometimes feels lonely in Egypt.

01:54Then she invites friends like Aisha, who also fled the war, to her aunt's apartment.

01:59Salma is the only one of her nine siblings to have fled,

02:02and always sends part of her income to her sisters and brothers.

02:06It's hard to reach them by phone.

02:08The network in Sudan is often too weak.

02:11Salma fled two years ago when the war between the Sudanese army

02:15and the hostile RSF militia escalated in her hometown of Khartoum.

02:20One day I was almost hit by a sniper.

02:26I was on my bike and the bullet just barely missed me.

02:30Another time fighters whipped me.

02:32They demanded that I give them my bike and my cell phone.

02:35I said take the cell phone, but I won't give you my bike.

02:39They were distracted for a moment and I was able to run away with my bike.

02:43They started shooting in the air.

02:45It was really hard.

02:47The rapid support forces in Sudan, or the RSF,

02:59is one of the most brutal militias in the world,

03:02with lots of mercenaries and is heavily armed.

03:05It's probably financed by the UAE.

03:08They want natural resources, especially gold deposits.

03:11And it's all about power.

03:13Leader Dagolo had himself sworn in as head of a self-proclaimed parallel government.

03:18Its fighters have been committing massacres in the Darfur region,

03:22especially against indigenous tribes.

03:24The warring parties are blocking international aid supplies

03:27and millions of people are starving.

03:29Many are said to have begun eating animal feed out of desperation.

03:33Women in Darfur report atrocities committed by the RSF fighters.

03:37They take everything from you.

03:42Money, and if you have a donkey, they take that too.

03:45They killed people and raped girls right in front of us.

03:49Most of the districts around the capital Khartoum have also been destroyed.

03:54The Sudanese army currently has the upper hand here.

03:57Human rights organizations also accuse it of war crimes.

04:00There's no prospect of peace.

04:032,000 miles downstream from Khartoum on the Nile in Cairo,

04:08entire neighborhoods are heavily Sudanese.

04:11Little Khartoum they joke here.

04:14Sudanese dishes, such as Shia lamb, Salma's favorite,

04:19are served in street restaurants.

04:21For her friend Aisha, the culinary delights represent fond memories of her homeland.

04:31She comes from Darfur.

04:33She has bad memories of the RSF.

04:40They tied a rope around my uncle's neck and dragged him on their horses.

04:44They killed lots of people.

04:46Even children were burned to death in huts.

04:49They locked them in sheds and set them on fire with gasoline.

04:53I saw that.

04:54I experienced that.

05:04Then the mood changes.

05:06Salma's soccer team arrives for dinner.

05:08They're pioneers and played in the first women's soccer league in Sudan.

05:13They talk about their hopes and dreams of returning one day.

05:17I want to start a women's soccer academy and an all-female bicycle delivery service.

05:34A passion for sports helps women to switch off and take a deep breath.

05:39But Sudanese women rarely train in Cairo.

05:41Many of our girls have no uniforms, no soccer cleats. It's challenging.

05:55Many of them can't afford to come here. They live far away.

06:00When they can celebrate a goal together, they enjoy it all the more.

06:04Today was just wonderful, unlike the other days.

06:10Very nice. Sport brings us closer together.

06:14While the others are still joking around after training, Salma has to get going again quickly.

06:21She hopes that a call will come for a delivery after all.

06:24And that they will need her, the powerful Sudanese woman on a bike in Cairo.

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