El Fasher, Sudan – For Awatif Ahmed Isshag, covering Darfur is the story of her life.
Nearly a decade ago, at 14, Isshag started publishing a handwritten community newsletter about local events, arts and religion. Once a month, she’d paste decorated pages to a large piece of wood and hang it from a tree outside her family’s home for passers-by to read.
But after western Sudan plunged into bloodshed and suffering in 2003, Isshag’s publication took on a decidedly sharper edge, tackling issues such as the plight of refugees, water shortages, government inaction in the face of militia attacks and sexual violence against women.
Her grass-roots periodical has become the closest thing that El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, has to a hometown newspaper.
More than 100 people a day stop to check out her latest installments, some walking several miles from nearby displacement camps, she said.
“I feel I have a message to deliver to the community,” said Isshag, 24.
Critics have attempted to intimidate her and force her to shut down. Instead, Isshag is expanding this month with a new printed edition, enabling her to circulate for the first time beyond the neighborhood tree.
Readers say her magazine, called Al Raheel (which roughly translates as “Moving” or “Departing”) is one of the only places they can read locally produced stories about issues touching their lives.
Isshag complained that despite widespread international attention, the suffering of Darfur remains vastly underreported inside Sudan. There are no local television stations in the area, and most newspapers operate under government control or are based hundreds of miles away in Khartoum.
Isshag hopes to complete a master’s degree in economics at the University of Khartoum and then one day to lead a development company, building schools and houses in her long-marginalized homeland.
But for now, she’s focused on improving the magazine.
After a local Khartoum-based newspaper profiled her, Isshag received a new computer and printer as a gift from a well-wisher in Qatar. She’s also looking into launching a website.
