"Sister Get-Together": Community for a Refugee Family from Sudan
by Marissa Lindemann
Since July 2021, 14 Sudanese refugee women in Lincoln, Nebraska, have been gathering in one another’s homes every two weeks to celebrate their culture and their bonds of female friendship. They eat Sudanese food, care for each other’s children, and help one another feel at home. Aisha Ibrahim, 30, spent her Saturday preparing to host the group while caring for her family. Sudanese Refugees are the fourth largest refugee population in Nebraska, according to data from the Nebraska Refugee Health Report in 2020. Aisha and her husband are busy people: they must juggle the responsibilities of being students, parents, and employees- but they prioritize the community they’ve formed.
Aisha Ibrahim, right, comforts her son, Bugala Abdul, left, as she settles him down for his afternoon nap on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. Ibrahim traveled to Nebraska to rejoin her husband, Abdul Atif Isaac, from the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya in 2021. Her family is originally from the Al-Jenina, Sudan but fled to the Kakuma Refugee Camp to escape war in Sudan.
Aisha Ibrahim, 30, gathers toys from the living room carpet as her son, Bugala Abdul, sleeps nearby on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. Ibrahim must clean quickly while her two children sleep since she has guests visiting in the evening.
Aisha Ibrahim looks at her laptop to see what assignments she has left for the week on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. Ibrahim is currently a student at Southeast Community College studying for her associate’s degree in the human services program. She hopes to graduate this May.
Aisha Ibrahim leaves her apartment building to go to the grocery store on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. Ibrahim needs more vegetables and fruits for the dishes she will make for the guests that will visit in the evening.
Aisha Ibrahim cuts Sudanese fatira into strips in her kitchen as her daughter, Buraga Abdul, 6, watches on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. Sudanese Fatira is a bread-like food eaten with tea or coffee. Ibrahim made the dough from scratch, rolled it out, then cut it into strips.
Aisha Ibrahim fries Sudanese fatira in oil on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. She has prepared several other Sudanese dishes for her guests, including ful. As the guests arrive, they bring more food or bottles of water to contribute to the group.
Aisha Ibrahim, left, pulls a pan lid from the top of the fridge as she talks to her sister-in-law, Halima Fadul, right, who has her 8-month-old son, Adam Abdul, tied to her back on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. In Sudanese culture, women carry their babies on their backs as they work. Fadul arrives early to help Ibrahim with the last few dishes before the guests arrive.
Aisha Ibrahim, holds her friend’s daughter, Rania Haroun, 3, in her lap as Rania’s mother, Hawa Ishag, feeds her daughter on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. The guests visiting are 12 of the 14 women who make up the “sister get-together,” a group of Sudanese refugee women who meet every two weeks at a different woman’s house to share a meal together.
Aisha Ibrahim, holds up her phone to take a selfie with the sister get-together group in her apartment on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. The women have found a sense of community in the group, which was formed after many of them met while visiting a friend after she had a baby in 2021. In Sudanese culture, 40 days after a woman has given birth the women of the community will visit to celebrate.
Aisha Ibrahim washes her son Bugala Abdul’s face as she gets her children ready for bed on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. After the sister get-together, Ibrahim helps her children brush their teeth and then settles them down with a story.