Philanthropy Daily Talks With Sudan Relief Fund’s Matt Smith
Saving Lives in South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains
Philanthropy Daily, a publication of the Center for Civil Society, recently spoke with Sudan Relief Fund Senior Vice President, Matt Smith, on SRF’s ongoing work in the humanitarian hotspot of Sudan and South Sudan—focal point of the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis on record, with massive numbers of people needing assistance to survive.
The interview spotlights in particular the work of Dr. Tom Catena and Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, in response to the crisis that’s escalated since the onset of Sudan’s civil war in April of 2023.
Missionary doctor and award winning humanitarian, Dr. Tom Catena, helped found the hospital that is the only referral center for hundreds of miles in the Nuba Mountains. It is one of the few hospitals still operating in Sudan’s devastating civil war.
Dr. Tom, as he’s known, describes the situation as the “worst he’s ever seen” in Sudan, a significant statement considering his stay reaches back to 2008, during which time he’s endured previous wars, bombing campaigns, and famines.
Sudan Relief Fund is responding to the crisis by supporting Dr. Tom and the hospital with critical medicines, supplies, and nutritional support to combat famine. Shipments of an emergency nutritional product known as Plumpy’Nut have been instrumental in treating starving children and other victims of malnutrition.
With millions displaced by war, commerce at a standstill, and no planting underway, food insecurity has deeply oppressed the nation. Dr. Tom says his children’s ward has been overcrowded with malnourished toddlers, and their staff is treating triple the normal caseload daily.
The hospital is serving an extended catchment area of 3 million plus people now, with the influx of over a million displaced refugees. Under Dr. Tom’s leadership and with partners’ support, the hospital has added 19 outreach clinics across the region to bring medical treatment closer to people without it.
Dr. Tom describes the clinics as “spokes in a wheel” designed to treat many of the more common ailments, with complex cases being referred to the hospital itself. Despite the immense challenges of the civil war, Matt Smith says Dr. Tom’s efforts are “building out a sustainable healthcare infrastructure that is unheard of in this part of Africa.”
Currently Dr. Tom and his team are seeing up to four hundred patients a day – a lifesaving work he says would be impossible without faithful donor support, since the hospital is fully dependent on the same.
“Without their help, we can’t do anything,” he says. As a hospital rooted in Catholic faith, Dr. Tom also emphasized his reliance on the power of prayers and God’s protection to keep them going amid such heightened challenges.
Dr. Tom and his team continue to treat war injuries, cancers, malaria and other diseases, perform surgeries, and deliver babies for mothers facing complications, often with limited supplies amidst the escalating crisis. He and his team are committed to staying and helping the massive numbers in need despite the civil war that encroaches ever closer to their location.
Matt describes Dr. Tom as “a modern saint . . . I’ve never seen someone work the way he is working, so consistently every day, for as long as he has, in the conditions he is working in.”
Sudan Relief Fund, with the generosity of donors, continues to support Dr. Tom’s work and the refugee crisis in Nuba with medicines, hospital supplies, clean water, and emergency food distributions. Learn more about how you can help in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.