A story with a happy ending

It’s 2 p.m., I am sitting in my office and showing a young boy the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994 on youtube.

Mahmoud, volunteer coordinator, Ingvild and Alex, who speaks a little Eritreaen, and our new friend in our office.

Two hours earlier, my boss delegated the responsibility of this kid to me and Ingvild. He is from Eritrea and has been in Port Sudan for some weeks. His family lives in Norway. The Norwegian authorities had asked the Red Crescent for help in tracing our new friend after his family found out he was in Port Sudan.

He understands some English, speaks a bit Arabic, and after hours of patient drawing, asking, miming and googeling, I understand that he left his country because he was going to be enrolled in the army. The young boy walked for over a week to the border of Sudan. Once here, he got robbed for all his belongings. He walked for days and then hitch hiked to Port Sudan. He ate whatever was left on the side of the road and found water by digging in the ground. In Port Sudan, he was approached by a fellow Eritrean who immediately took him to his home. This is where our friend was found by the Red Crescent.

Learning the alphabet in Norwegian

Our young friend will leave for Khartoum, and hopefully, he will be in Norway to celebrate Christmas with his family.