Communal Kitchens Attenuate Biting Hunger In Sudan

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) News report by Mohammad Abdulaziz
KHARTOUM, July 27 (KUNA) -- As Sudan has been embroiled in a 15-month conflict, people can hardly find something to eat, with the UN World Food Program (WFP) cautioning that 25.6 million people, making up 50 percent of Sudan's population, are experiencing severe food insecurity, while 18 million others are facing the risk of hunger.
Amid such difficult living conditions, local and communal charitable initiatives have recently emerged in this war-torn Arab country to provide free-of-charge meals to homeless and displaced people in a bid to mitigate the aftershocks of biting hunger nationwide.
Hundreds of communal kitchens can reportedly be found across several neighborhoods in Sudan, serving so many famine-hit families in spite of funding shortfalls that force some of them to cut the number of daily meals.
Speaking to KUNA, Othman Al-Gendi, a charity owner in Omdurman, the second most populous city in Sudan, said charitable activities in general and free meals in particular have strikingly come to the surface since the civil war erupted in the country.
Elaborating, he said he had started his charitable mission in April 2023 only a few months after the war broke out, offering food and, later on, clothing and medicine to as many as 300 Sudanese families.
Abdulrasheed Taha, a beneficiary of Al-Gendi's charity, said he, together with many others, have moved to the relatively secure city of Omdurman in a bid to make use of charitable activities offered there.
Speaking to KUNA, Taha appreciated the initiative by affirming that it has greatly contributed to alleviating the perilous impacts of their unbearable living circumstances.
At least 700 communal kitchens can be found across several neighborhoods in embattled Khartoum, each serving around 300 families, providing regular meals as well as social and emotional support.
They are generally run by Sudanese philanthropists, charities and organizations, mainly including the Emergency Response Rooms, which was launched following the eruption of the conflict on April 15.
Last year, the Emergency Response Rooms set up 418 kitchens in the capital to help more than four million Sudanese. However, these kitchens are in financial trouble, prompting some of them to serve only one meal per person on a daily basis.
Abdullah Saleh, an official of the Sudanese charity, also speaking to KUNA, acknowledged that this is not enough at all but, to be honest, it is better than nothing.
"Actually, we are trying hard to keep serving people, given that 90 percent of people in conflict-hit areas are totally relying upon food and services provided to them by the emergency rooms' teams," Saleh said.
However, Hadya Hasballah, also a charity founder, complained that due to financial troubles, her association now only offers a single meal per person every day in conflict-hit areas, at a time when famine is alarmingly growing in the country.
Several UN agencies have recently sounded the alarm about the grave reflections of food insecurity in this war-torn country, warning that people there are frighteningly facing the risks of acute food insecurity.
They underlined that Sudan continues to face the worst hunger and displacement crisis in the world as a result of the 15 months of armed conflicts between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
For instance, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that since the war began in Sudan in April 2023, over 7.7 million people have been internally displaced. (end)
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