Selah* was just twelve years old when war reached his village.
In 2023, conflict broke out across the nation of Sudan and fighting made its way towards Selah’s hometown of Dilling, making daily life increasingly dangerous. Situated along a critical supply route in the Nuba Mountains, the village fell under paramilitary control and remained isolated for nearly two years. Access roads were cut off, humanitarian operations severely restricted, and conditions pushed to crisis levels. Half of the city’s civilian population fled, while those who remained faced acute shortages of food, healthcare, and basic necessities.
Selah was attending school when the violence escalated. As the conflict dragged on, the danger shifted from indirect to deeply personal. Armed forces began attempting to recruit boys — children like Selah — to fight.
Faced with the prospect of becoming a soldier, Selah and several friends made a decision no child should ever have to make: they ran.
Leaving everything behind, they fled on foot toward safer territory. Eventually, they reached an SPLM-liberated area and found some community at a refugee camp — but no clean water or food. It was there that Ezekiel Ayub, LUV’s leader in the area, welcomed him and 49 other unaccompanied minors into LUV’s network to receive protection and education.
Selah was only fourteen at the time.
The cost of the escape was high. Selah comes from a large family — five brothers and five sisters — who remain in northern Sudan with his parents. Due to ongoing violence and displacement, he has no way of knowing whether they are alive or dead. Like so many children caught in conflict, Selah carries both survival and grief in equal measure.
Yet even in the hardest of times, hope has taken root.
Today, Selah is enrolled in grade two and rebuilding a sense of normalcy through his new home in LUV’s network. When asked about the future, he speaks clearly and without hesitation: he wants to become a teacher.
Selah’s story is not unique. Across Sudan, nearly 12 million people have been displaced by conflict, and children are among the most vulnerable — at risk of recruitment, exploitation, and loss of opportunity.
But his story is a powerful reminder of what protection can make possible.
Selah escaped recruitment and found safety. Because of your support, his life is no longer defined by war — but by learning, resilience, and the promise of a different future.
Stories like Selah’s don’t change overnight — they are sustained through consistent care.
When you become a monthly donor, you help provide the safety, education, and stability children need every single day.
Join us in protecting children like Selah.