Sister Margrit Schenkel:A Swiss Nightingale In Sudan By Dr. Abdel-Halim Altahir

10:26 PM October, 01 2026

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Sister Margrit Schenkel: ‘A Swiss Nightingale’ In
Sudan


By Dr. Abdel-Halim Altahir
Background and Overview
Memorable mercy and relief personalities from time
immemorial have been well documented worldwide,
including those who made history in Europe; of these, was
the renowned 19th century’s nursing sister, Florence
Nightingale whose sacrifice and ordeal during the Crimean
war among the European nations, saved tens of
thousands of lives through good hygiene, cleanliness,
feeding and proper dressing of festering wounds, as well
as dealing with filth and neglect rather than bullets,
shrapnel and bombs. That young lady inspired many to
pursue her legacy in the following centuries.
In Africa, during colonial and post-colonial periods, many
European angels of humanity and philanthropy devoted
time, effort and support to the impoverished populations,
especially the vulnerable women and children.
For the record, it is incumbent on the Sudanese health
care providers to remember with all respect and gratitude
the contribution of those European angels of hope who
shunned the beauty and affluent life of Europe and came
all the way over many decades to the African continent to
serve these communities which were deprived of their
early basic humanitarian needs as a result of bad
governance, neglect, corruption and civil strife. Among all
these, sister Margrit Schenkel of the beautiful, scenic and
non-partisan Switzerland made history by voluntarily
coming in a group of 3 dedicated young nurses to northern
Sudan in the early 1970s in the wake of the arrival of the
renowned archeologist Charl Bonnet who had unearthed
the wonders of the Kerma temples in north Sudan. Their
ultimate goal was to help and upgrade the nursing
services in the Dongola, Abri, Burgeig hospitals and the
rural areas surrounding them.
The Dongola and Burgeig Tenure
My first encounter with sister Margrit, was in Sep.1980
when the Federal Ministry of Health transferred me to
Dongola to run the service in that northern province of
Sudan. Unexpectedly, I found a group of diligent and
dedicated young expatriate nurses, among them, was our
heroine Margrit, who assisted in establishing a quality
service in the whole area, securing the respect, trust and
admiration of those in charge, notably, under the close
supervision and coordination of the hospital director, Dr.
Shadoul, a seasoned and talented young physician. A
major achievement there was the Charity and Swiss
assistance in establishing a complete 24-bed children’s
ward with all the diagnostic and therapeutic facilities, as
well as upgrading the workforce skills through training,
motivation and other toppings. She was also persistent in
regularly touring the adjacent communities in the Kerma
and Dongola areas to educate families on good health and
nutrition practices for children and pregnant women.
Sidon, River Nile State
Came 1994, and I was transferred to the River Nile state;
a predominantly, agrarian and pastoral geographical entity
with sizable nomadic and semi-nomadic communities,
especially the Sidon locality along the River Atbara,
descending from the Ethiopian plateau. I quickly realized
that the area would most benefit from the presence of an
expatriate who would be able to provide much needed
technical and material assistance, necessary to building
capacity and enhancing motivation and resilience.
As such, Sister Margrit embarked on an extensive touring
of all the villages in the area to assess and audit the
shortfall in the grassroot health needs. As a result, a
comprehensive and realistic plan to specifically target
women and children immunization and good nutrition was
endorsed. Then, the arena was set for implementing the
plan which produced optimal success in achieving 45%
increase in immunization and overall health indicators. As
a result of sister Margrit presence and periodic monitoring
of the field health interventions, overall health indicators in
that locality were the highest among the other rural areas
country-wide.
Margrit’s Darfur Legacy
Following the harrowing and grave tribulations of the 2003
Darfur inferno that resulted in tragic and universally well-
documented heavy toll in life and assets, all efforts were
initiated by the UN and other partners to mitigate the
damage in infrastructure and services that prompted the
Federal Health Ministry to out-source experienced and
connected health personnel to augment the delipidated
health delivery system by deploying Dr Shadoul, known for
his sound expertise and wide experience on international
scale to meet the challenge in those circumstances.
Personally, I thought it was time to request him to take
sister Margrit in his Darfur team, to which he
enthusiastically concurred. Margrit duly accepted the
challenge to assist the new Health Minster in north Darfur.
So, a new epoch of quality services started and continued
for over 10 productive years in turbulent circumstances.
However, with the Swiss, UN and NGOs massive support
and close collaboration, the new team succeeded in
alleviating the suffering and misery by extending assets
and technical support
In the her anew assignment, sister Margrit never failed her
beckoning consistuency. She studied the whole situation
by approaching the politicians, state policymakers, the
operational UN, INGOs and community leaders with whom
she developed a strong partnership that was deemed
necessary to undertake any assignment in an untoward
and complicated setting.
Margrit’s Achievements in Darfur
Sister Margrit duly established good rapport with the policy
makers at all levels as well as the community leaders to
correctly identify the gaps in service delivery and the
aspirations of the constituents
The Child Therapeutic Feeding Centre (TFC)
Despite the enormous support for child health and nutrition
throughput from different actors in the area, a felt need for
a proper reference Therapeutic Feeding Centre (TFC) was
a high priority to target the high malnutrition indicators in a
war-stricken area. With that goal, our heroine, solicited
and secured the necessary funding to establish a state-of-
the-art Nutrition Feeding Centre close to the Al Fashir
Teaching hospital premises, equipped with all the growth
monitoring and therapeutic gadgetry provided by diverse
partners, including the Swiss Embassy in Khartoum. The
impact of that facility was immediate and evident to all the
city residents who poured praise on our heroine for the
enormous assistance in alleviating the suffering of children
and families
2.The Kutum Midwifery School
After touring the country-side, Margrit was approached by
the community leaders in the Kutum locality where there
was a felt need for midwifery services. She agreed to
solicit support from her donors who willingly responded by
mobilizing resources needed for the construction of a
midwifery school for training young and bright girls from
the surrounding villages to undergo a 9-month training to
become certified midwives in order to serve their own
communities rather than sending women all the way to Al
Fashir for delivery. Additionally, she also provided the
locality with solar-powered fridges for the health centres
and dispensaries in a number of locations to increase the
immunization coverage among children and women in the
whole area.
Kidnap Bombshell
One morning and after 10 years of unrelenting good work
and perseverance, the town of Al Fashir was awakened to
the devastating breaking news of the abduction of sister
Margrit from her home near the airport by unidentified
warriors. The search was immediately pursued and
continued for several days to no avail. The town and the
whole country were on a 24-hour vigil and people of all
faith prayed for her relief and safe return home. Though,
Margrit had never indulged in any untoward negative
activity against any of the warring factions or the
government, it was later revealed that Margrit abduction
was orchestrated by a rebel faction as a sort of exerting
pressure on the authorities in Khartoum for certain
grievances. Later, it was revealed that Margrit was held
hostage in the vicinity of Kutum town, the very area where
she had cared for its welfare for so long.
Sister Margrit Freed
After 37 days of captivity, our heroine at last walked out a
free person from the wilderness. She was immediately
flown out the evening after to Khartoum where she was
well received by her loving friends, self and family who
rushed to the Swiss embassy amid warm reception and
celebration before her repatriation the next morning to her
beloved Switzerland. .
Happy Finale and conclusion
The day Margrit was flown out of Sudan after her
outrageous captivity, was marked as an end of a bright
history of a noble and dedicated persona which
contributed the most in alleviating the suffering of innocent
women and children in the World’s most disastrous human
tragedy of the 21st. century. It goes without saying, that
Sister Margrit after her safe return home, has never
forsaken or erased from memory her friends back in
Sudan or in the diaspora where they have been displaced
and relocated, through generous and sustainable financial
and moral support since the war broke out in 2023.
As uncountable loving friends and partners of sister
Margrit and on behalf of thousands of families who have
been supported by her and wherever they are and on
behalf of them all, we genuinely and devotedly pray to
God the Almighty to keep her in good health and happy
with her loving family in the beautiful Switzerland. This
short article is a small contribution from her friends and
loved ones who are genuinely missing her as well she
herself is missing them after an historic ordeal. Amen