Cochrane man relieved to be home after 'a life-altering experience' and tense escape from war-torn Sudan
CBC
Tim Sanborn, of Cochrane, Alta., considers himself lucky to have gotten out of Sudan safely and returned home to his family and friends while so many others continue to be at risk.
He says the whole experience has left him rethinking his priorities. He wonders whether he will ever return to the country and the people he started to build a connection with through his work.
""I did a lot of thinking," said Sanborn. "It's not fair to put my family and friends through this again."
Sanborn works for an agricultural equipment manufacturer with an expanding client base in Sudan. Sanborn's job is to install, commission and service the equipment.
He was set to leave the country the day the fighting broke out.
As CBC News reported earlier, Sanborn became stuck in a hotel in Khartoum waiting for an escape plan, either through his company's private evacuation insurance or the Canadian government.
Eventually, Sanborn's insurance company came through. It arranged for him and a few dozen other foreign nationals to be ushered out of the city on a chartered bus to Port Sudan last week.
He says the most dangerous part of the 15-hour bus ride was exiting Khartoum — the focus of so much fighting between the two military factions.
"You're not too sure where are contested areas, whether or not you're going through them. There was quite a bit of carnage in the streets from past battles, a lot of ruined machinery and some evidence of heavy fighting — a visual cue of what you're involved in. And you know there's been people injured and killed," said Sanborn.
Sanborn says they had to hand over their passports at the port's processing area, which was filled with hundreds of other foreign nationals and locals also trying to leave. They then waited 13 hours before the group was led onto a tugboat that brought them out to a waiting Saudi warship in the Red Sea.
Sanborn says it wasn't until he boarded that ship, surrounded by military personnel, that he finally felt safe and could breathe a sigh of relief.
"I knew we were home free at that point," said Sanborn.
From Saudi Arabia, his company arranged a flight home, via Dubai and Toronto, before arriving Sunday in Calgary.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly confirmed Tuesday that Canadian soldiers are in Port Sudan, assisting any Canadians who make it to the city escape by ship.
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