In August last year, the Africa Daily podcast spoke to Yusuf, who had left Sudan to find work and was supporting his elderly mother and brother who remained in the war-torn country.
Now, he tells Africa Daily he’s just been reunited with his family after they made the dangerous journey across the desert to Egypt.
“I was overwhelmed. The sensation of seeing your family again and they’re safe and sound, I actually had some tears in my eyes,” he said.
Yusuf had initially moved to South Sudan when the international school he taught at closed due to the risks posed by the civil war.
The nation’s armed forces and a powerful paramiltiary group had turned their guns on each other this time last year, sparking ongoing violence, hunger and displacement.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since and 8.5 million more have been forced to flee their homes.
Aftern leaving Sudan for neighbouring South Sudan, Yusuf moved to Egypt – a common destination for those fleeing the war. And just over a week ago Yusuf finally got his mother and brother out of Sudan to safety in Egypt.
However, the four-day trip, across the desert on the back of a pick up truck, was dangerous, Yusuf says.
“Anything could happen in the desert – they could get robbed, they could get killed, they could get lost and run out of food and water,” he said.