Agnes Aldino, one of the women we heard about last year, had seen her youngest child die from malaria in a shanty town near Port Sudan. She has not seen her firstborn, who lives in northern Uganda, for 15 years. Another of her daughters lives with relatives in the south of Sudan where the civil war grinds on. Agnes's husband has vanished, and now only Viola, another daughter aged 13, is staying with her. Their beds take up most of the small shelter they occupy on the edge of the desert where temperatures soar to 45C and sand storms rattle the flattened cooking oil drums which serve as walls.
Some women go into prostitution to provide for their families.
After arriving in Port Sudan she chose a business almost as risky in a strict Islamic society - brewing alcohol. I was brewing and selling spirits made from date palms. The police used to catch me and send me to prison for three months at a time. But I needed to make the money to eat and feed Viola. I didn't have anyone to help me.