Trigger warning: This article contains references to sexual violence

Over two years of war in Sudan have displaced around 12 million people either internally or across borders, making it the world's largest, and fastest growing, displacement crisis.

Over 30 million people - nearly two thirds of Sudan's entire population - are in need of urgent humanitarian support including healthcare, shelter, food and hygiene kits.

Women and girls bear the brunt of this crisis, facing hunger, violence and displacement. Gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, is rampant, contributing to what has been described as a war on women and girls.

A war on women like Nada, who was forced to flee with her five children and now lives in a shelter-turned-classroom in Port Sudan. This is her story.

The onset of war

Nada, 39, sits on a small school chair in the middle of a crowded classroom in a school turned shelter close to the sea of Port Sudan. "We had a normal life. We were happy and grateful for what we had and enjoyed life with the family," she remembers.

"I was home cooking, when the war started. I remember the shooting and screaming and people were running for their lives. Immediately I knew what was happening, we heard the stories from Khartoum and Darfur, and my first thought was to protect my girls. I yelled at them to run, no matter where, but they refused to leave without me."

Forced to flee

Nada has five children, aged between 22 and 9, including 18-year-old Bardia, who has a mental disability which affects her speech and mobility. Nada's husband, a farmer, was in a different village selling one of their goats at the market when the chaos erupted. "I knew that Bardia would not be able to run fast enough. But we had to try," recalls Nada. "We made it to a small stream, and I decided to take our chances to hide there. I told my other daughters that they have to leave me and run. I was scared that if they stayed with me, they will be raped."

Nada, Nada's youngest daughter, and Bardia stayed and hid. Bardia was crying heavily and screaming that she wanted to go home. Nada's youngest asked if she would be shot. "I just pulled my girls to my chest and tried to comfort them. I tried to reassure them and said that they will not hurt us, they just came to steal things."

When the noise of war quietened down, Nada returned home. Once there, armed men shot at her windows, yelling for Nada to come outside. It was dark, with no lights, or power. The men demanded she step outside.

Nada came out alone, trembling, shielding her daughters who were hiding under the bed. "They asked me what I was doing here, and I tried to explain that this was my home." One of the men pushed her first against the wall, then to the floor. "He tried to touch me. Then he tried to rape me. I started screaming and he moved his body on top of me."

That is when Bardia came outside and cried out with limited words but raw force, trying to stop them. Then the youngest daughter followed, crying, "Will you shoot my mom?".

Hearing her children, Nada gathered what strength she has, andwas able to free herself. She then pulled her daughters close, hiding them with her body. The men ran, then turned, throwing stones, shouting they will return. Nada and her girls fled to a neighbour's house. When they returned the next day, everything they owned was gone, including all of Nada's beloved goats and sheep.

The constant struggle for survival

Eventually they found shelter in a classroom-turned-shelter in Port Sudan. They have lived there for the last 1.5 years. The shelter is scorching hot. There are four families in Nada's classroom, divided only by cloth hung from walls. The school desks are stacked with suitcases used as storage and beds.

"In the beginning we had regular food distributions here, but after a few months it stopped, as the funding ran out. I started to try and find a source of income. I go from house to house and offer cleaning services, but I only manage to earn 2 USD a day."

With funds being cut around the world, people like Nada in Sudan feel the direct impact of lack of money for humanitarian aid. The survival of millions of displaced in this schools and other shelters around Sudan depend on aid, yet Sudan's crisis is lacking the attention needed and people like Nada struggle every single day, hoping to survive the next.

Nada hesitates when asked if she currently has food. "We are struggling. When I work, we eat. If there is no work, there is no food. Today there was no food for us." Her older daughter brings a mosquito net filled with seeds. They roast them over open fire to sell when people gather, especially during a football match. What they get, they consume immediately. "We cannot save food, as we do not have enough even for a single day. But life keeps moving. If we cannot buy anything, we try to get some old dry bread from the bakers."

A stable water supply

For water, Nada does not need to worry anymore. "Now, since CARE came, we have sufficient water. Before, we had to buy clean drinking and cooking water from the truck deliveries. Water is expensive. 35 cents for 10 litres, which is not enough for the six of us for one day. For all our other needs we used the salty sea water to clean, wash and bathe."

The school now has three large water bladders. Big grey cushions filled with 20,000 litres of clean water. The construction of these bladders is easier than a fixed water tank. Especially as the need to move them to a different safe space might arise at any moment in this precarious conflict.

Hope for the future?

It is a relief to have access to clean water, but Nada remains constantly fearful for the future. "I am afraid that we need to flee again, that we then will lose access to the water CARE provides. That my children will be ripped out of school again. My 16-year-old just got her certificate to continue her secondary education, but for that we need a stable place. I am so proud of her, but also so sad that this war is crushing her dreams."

Crisis in Sudan - how you can help

Please donate to our emergency appeal today so that CARE International can continue to provide humanitarian support to those who urgently need it in Sudan. Your donation will help to provide life-saving supplies and support including:

• Clean water
• Food supplies
• Medicine
• Mental health support

Demand Government action on Sudan

The world's Governments - including the UK - have failed to respond to the crisis in Sudan with urgency, leadership and determination at the scale needed.

Women, children and communities in Sudan and across the region can wait no longer.

Alongside 12 other UK leading aid charities, CARE International UK is calling on the UK Government to take urgent action to help the people of Sudan.

Will you join us?