The Stories We Don’t Hear: Human Voices in Times of Crisis

On Wednesday, 14 October, the Netherlands Red Cross invites you to The Stories We Don’t Hear: Human Voices in Times of Crisis, an evening about personal stories behind the crisis in Sudan. Through a documentary, a panel discussion and a photo exhibition we explore how Sudanese experience a crisis many of us think we already know, and the role their stories can play in shaping humanitarian action.

Sudan is facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, yet it receives little international attention. For more than three years, people in Sudan have been living through a devastating conflict. Many have lost their homes, loved ones and sense of safety. The realities of this conflict are often reduced to facts and numbers, leaving out people’s personal stories.

But what if we listened to those living through this crisis, not as distant strangers, but as people who share many of the same hopes, anxieties, dreams and daily realities as we do?

Because who can better tell these stories of the daily realities than the people living them every day?

In the documentary 10 Times 74: Stories of Sudanese Who Choose to Multiply What They Have, filmmaker Hassan Kamil captures his home country Sudan through conversations with fellow Sudanese. This documentary focuses on their stories. Stories that, perhaps unexpectedly, are not only about fear and suffering. They’re stories of strength. Of community. Of humanity. Hassan meets people who make a change. People who gather to help others, to foster connection, and to spread hope in a time where beauty is still there, even though it’s sometimes hard to see.

On Wednesday, 14 October, we use this documentary as a starting point for a conversation about Sudan, and about the stories we tell about crisis. During a panel discussion, filmmaker Hassan Kamil, Dutch diplomat for Sudan Floris te Velde and SudanConnect volunteer Leya Schoonderwoerd will reflect on the conflict, the way it is portrayed internationally, and what changes when people affected by crisis tell their own stories.

The evening concludes with a photo exhibition bringing together personal stories from Sudan, Mali, Liberia and Botswana. Through photographs and intimate WhatsApp conversations with volunteers and community members, you are invited into moments of everyday life that may feel both unfamiliar and surprisingly recognisable.

And we hope that, after this evening, these stories continue to multiply. When sharing with others, we can let the stories live onwards and change the dominant narrative little by little.

Following the event, participants will be invited to walk to the Atrium City Hall, adjacent to the library, for the official opening of the exhibition.

Doors open at 17:15, with drinks and substantial bites served before the programme begins. The formal programme takes place from 18:00 to 19:35 in the Haagse Lobby, followed by the official opening of the exhibition in the Atrium at approximately 19:45.