The Crisis of Community Kitchens in Sudan
A network of community kitchens in Sudan, a crucial lifeline for millions of people caught up in the civil war, is on the verge of collapse. A report highlights the dire situation, emphasizing that these local initiatives are struggling to survive due to a combination of financial, operational, and security challenges.
These kitchens have been operating in areas that are difficult for international humanitarian groups to access. However, they now face closure due to neglect, shortages, and volunteer exhaustion. The ongoing conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 24 million people facing acute food shortages.
The locally run kitchens have become essential in filling the gaps left by collapsing government services and limited international aid. Volunteers from all walks of life, including teachers, engineers, and young people, contribute their time and resources. However, the financial fragility of these kitchens is a pressing issue. They are now primarily funded by the Sudanese diaspora, after USAID cuts earlier this year.
“It was like someone cut a rope we were holding on to,” one volunteer said. “Before March, we had a small, regular stream that let us plan. We knew we could serve at least one meal a day. Now? In the last month, I would say there were 10 days we went to sleep not knowing if we could cook the next day. The uncertainty, it’s worse than having nothing.”
Operational Challenges and Security Threats
Severe operational challenges include the lack of safe water and firewood. Aid agencies report that both sides obstruct deliveries with bureaucratic delays and denials. Market disruptions caused by blockades, insecurity, and looting further complicate the situation.
The situation is worst in the besieged cities of el-Fasher in the western Darfur region and Kadugli in South Kordofan state. Both are largely cut off from commercial supplies and humanitarian assistance. The latest report of the global food security monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase network (IPC), confirmed famine conditions in those cities and projected a risk of famine in 20 additional areas across greater Darfur and greater Kordofan.
In el-Fasher, the kitchens were reduced to serving animal fodder by the time the city finally fell to the RSF last week. Food security in Sudan shows stark contrasts along conflict lines, according to the IPC report. “Conflict still decides who eats and who does not.”
Struggles in Omdurman and Beyond
In areas where violence has subsided, the situation has begun to improve. Some international aid agencies are contributing to the Emergency Response Rooms, although they have not been able to replace the US funding. Even in Omdurman, across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum, and largely under army control with ample commercial supplies, the scale of need often exceeds available resources, leading kitchens to ration food.
The city has been a hub for people displaced by the war, and prices are high. “This is the hardest part of my day,” a volunteer from Omdurman is quoted as saying. “We don’t have a formal system. We feed everyone, but one time we had to tell a mother at the end of the day that we had nothing left for her two children and that she should come back tomorrow early. She didn’t even cry, she just looked deflated.”
The Role of Emergency Response Rooms
The Emergency Response Rooms have been hailed as a model for UN-led reforms that emphasize shifting power and resources closer to the people most affected by crises. This year, they were nominated for a Nobel Prize. However, after nearly three years, the volunteers find themselves increasingly on their own, facing burnout and danger.
They have to work with whoever is in control in their area, and have become targets when territory changes hands, because they are sometimes seen by both sides as collaborating with the other party. Limited communications are a real problem. Long-term internet blackouts make it difficult to get money transferred through a mobile bank system, and mobile phones are a prime target for looters.
“They depend on this mobile money,” Shihab Mohamed Ali from Islamic Relief Sudan based in Port Sudan told the BBC’s Newsday programme. “They are taking the money inside their mobiles and going to bring the commodities from far areas. So, they used to cross through different checkpoints. And sometimes they were being looted, their mobile taken. And if the mobile is taken, that means the money is taken.”
Worse, he says, “there are some reports of members of community kitchens who were even killed”.
A Growing Fear of Collapse
“My biggest fear is that in six months, the community will be completely exhausted,” says a volunteer from Khartoum. “We are all getting poorer and angrier.”