This week marks a year since civil war broke out in Sudan.
The conflict has left thousands dead and created what the United Nations has called the world's "largest displacement crisis", with the African country on the brink of mass famine.
And Sudanese Kiwis trying to get their family here are hitting a dead end.
It was a year ago when a power struggle between Sudan's armed forces and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exploded into civil war.
More than 14,000 have been reported dead and 18 million are facing famine.
In addition, 3.5 million children under the age of five have acute malnutrition.
"It is the worst humanitarian crisis that Sudan has ever faced," Save the Children NZ advocacy director Jacqui Southey said.
"Millions of children will not survive the conflict in the coming months."
Thousands of kilometres away in Auckland, the pain of the war hits home.
Leena Kheir came to New Zealand as a child in 1995. She now works as a project manager and multidisciplinary creative.
She said struggles to make sense of the horrifying statistics coming out of Sudan.
"It's been incredibly distressing to watch everything unfold from far away. It's been really painful and there's a sense of overwhelming helplessness," Kheir told Newshub.
Mohamed Abdelmoneim's family are among the 8.6 million people forced out of their homes by the war. His brother was the last to flee after the RSF invaded their home.
"They actually captured my brother inside the house - and they kept torturing him until next day, 8am. They destroyed the house completely," Mohamed said.
They're now in Egypt where he rents an apartment for them.
"The whole family is quite stressed because we have my sister, my nephews, my niece, my brother and his daughter and his family are stuck there," he said.
Since the war broke out in April last year, 11 Sudanese nationals have arrived as part of the refugee quota.
But Abdelmoneim's family fled before registering as refugees with the UN.
They can't get into New Zealand as part of the family support category either, because Abdelmoneim didn't come here as a refugee and has immediate family here.
Abdelmoneim is an engineer and came to New Zealand on a work visa in 2015.
He asked multiple lawyers whether he might be able to get them in on a visitor visa. Their response was always the same.
"It's going to be just a waste of time and money because it's going to be rejected," he said.
Immigration lawyer Pooja Sundar said applying for a visitor visa and seeing if they get lucky is their only option.
"That's really difficult because visitor visa applicants have to prove they'll return which is difficult for them to prove," Sundar told Newshub.
"New Zealand doesn't have a humanitarian broad category they can apply for unless the Government decides that they want to step in and make some changes to the way that things are working."
The dream of peace in Sudan is not lost.
"I hope that Sudanese people one day get the sort of country that they deserve," Kheir said.
"A civilian democratic government. A country in which their potential can be realised, their personal potential, but also the incredible potential of a country that should be one of the richest in the world in so many ways."
But in the meantime, they want Immigration NZ to allow more Sudanese into New Zealand so they can escape the war.
