THERE WERE BOMBS FALLING EVERY WHERE

South Africans who lived and worked in Sudan open up about the nightmare of fleeing the conflict-torn country

- ROXANNE MOONEYS

IT STARTED out like an ordinary Saturday morning for the South African expat family - dad was going to play golf, mom and the twins were going to meet him at the clubhouse later.

"The kids were looking forward to their milkshakes," Ilse Young says.

But three-year-old Duncan and Isabella never got their treat.

As Ilse was preparing to leave home for the club, she heard the news that there had been an explosion - then an ominous message from Adam followed.

"Go back home.

Don't go anywhere, I'm coming.

Ilse, a teacher at an international school in Khartoum, Sudan, had met Adam, a manager for a food company, several years ago and the city had become their home.

But the life they knew in the North African country was ripped apart when fighting broke out between the Sudanese air force and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

"The fighting wasn't near where we lived, but we could hear bombing every day,” Ilse says.

For her family and thousands of others living in Sudan, fleeing became the main priority. The warring factions announced a ceasefire would be put in place to allow foreigners to be evacuated, and Ilse could hear helicopters evacuating staff from the nearby US embassy.

The SA department of international relations and cooperation in collaboration with humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers tried to put an evacuation plan to Egypt in place too.