Anitha Nagara
Small Business Program Changes a Mother’s Life
“I used to worry about where our next meal would come from”
Poverty is a sinkhole that drags families into hunger, sickness, and despair – sometimes for generations. Yet often a simple act of opportunity can change everything, providing wider benefits that reverberate across families and entire communities.
Sudan Relief Fund partners with STAR Support Group (SSG) in Yambio, South Sudan, to provide opportunities like these that can change lives. One such vehicle is the microfinance program, which gives mini loans and training to help poverty stricken families – particularly single mothers – start small businesses to support themselves and their children.
In Yambio, Anitha Nagara constantly struggled to provide for her children, and held out little hope this would improve. Feeding her children was the highest priority, so there was no money left for clothing, school, or medicine if they became sick.
A woman’s opportunity has historically been extremely limited here. Despite small steps being achieved to help women, progress is slow and the problem remains widespread. Anitha and her children faced a bleak future, simply striving to survive each day at a time.
When Anitha was identified as a candidate for the microfinance program, her entire life began to turn around. She had longed for an income generating opportunity, but without the resources to get started, she never believed it was achievable. When she received a microfinance loan for a small agricultural booth at the local market, it marked the first step on her life changing journey to financial sustainability and independence.
The microfinance initiative doesn’t stop at lending seed money, but provides training in basic finance and business practices as well, to help first-time small business owners achieve a successful startup. Anitha invested wisely, establishing a small-scale business in Yambio’s open market selling agricultural products and everyday goods to the community.
Her business quickly gained traction. Saving diligently, Anitha took out a second loan this year to expand her offerings. With much determination and effort, she has transformed her business from one small stall to a thriving business. With the income generated, she can feed her children consistently. She no longer worries they will go hungry from not being able to purchase food.
As she continues to grow her small business, Anitha now carries hope in her heart. She feels motivated every day to get up and manage her business, and she continues to set her sights on exploring new opportunities.
What’s more, Anitha can now afford to pay school fees and give her children the education she always hoped they could receive. Education is critical for children, especially in South Sudan, to lift them from poverty and equip them for successful futures.
“Microfinance has changed my life in so many ways,” she expressed. “I used to worry where our next meal would come from. But now I can provide for my family and give my children a chance at a better future.”
Because of your support, not only has Anitha’s life been turned around. Each of her children are impacted as well. Growing up educated, they will have better employment opportunities, and a greater ability to care for their own families.
Sometimes saving a life is as simple as providing a produce stall in a local market – a small assist with lasting and far-reaching effects.
These stories of Lives Saved are made possible by donors and supporters of Sudan Relief Fund. Thank you for reaching out to give hope and a future to families like Anitha Nagara’s.
Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.
Giving Thanks to the Heroes
Sometimes saying thank you seems insufficient. At this time of year when those in the U.S. focus on giving thanks, we at Sudan Relief Fund extend our heartfelt gratitude to you. Our donors and partners are no less than heroes. You save vulnerable lives every day. You protect women and children. You give orphans a home. You feed starving families, bring clean water to desolate places, and give medicine to the sick. You carry the war-weary to safety. You bring hope to people who without you would have little reason to hope.
We also take this opportunity to thank our courageous workers on the ground in Sudan and South Sudan, who labor all year through challenging conditions to ensure the gifts you donate make it to the people who need them most.
Your partnership this year has saved countless lives and relieved a multitude of suffering. We offer our thanks for your heroism. And we pray that the blessings you share selflessly will return to you in abundance, this Thanksgiving and always.
Sincerely,
Neil A. Corkery, President
Sudan Relief Fund
Tiyana
Young Girl Saved from Tuberculosis
“I am very thankful to this hospital”
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the leading infectious causes of death worldwide to this day. TB attacks the lungs and moves insidiously into other parts of the body, such as bones, kidneys, brain, and spinal cord. It can spread its deadly trail through the lymphatic system. And if left untreated in a timely manner, lead to permanent damage or death.
Tiyana was just sixteen years old when she began to feel pain in her abdomen, and experience stomach sickness that would not go away. She went to her local clinic where she was prescribed medicine for the nausea. But it didn’t help.
The abdominal pain only grew worse. What’s more, Tiyana could barely eat at all, and she was rapidly becoming thin and frail. Tiyana suffered this way for two months, vomiting constantly and bearing pain that didn’t let up.
Tiyana returned to the clinic in desperation. Seeing her declining condition, the clinicians referred her to Mother of Mercy Hospital – a mission hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, directed by Dr. Tom Catena for the past sixteen years. It is a Sudan Relief Fund supported hospital, and the only facility for hundreds of miles in all directions capable of delivering comprehensive treatment not found anywhere else in the region.
As soon as she arrived, Dr. Tom performed an ultrasound and diagnosed Tiyana with abdominal tuberculosis. At this point, she could no longer walk by herself, and had to be supported by two nurses. She was immediately started on strong rounds of medications to try to halt the onslaught of the illness.
Her TB had progressed so severely before Tiyana made it to the hospital that it would be a long road to recovery for her. Nevertheless, the team at Mother of Mercy didn’t let up and Tiyana never stopped fighting. It took a month and a half of treatment for her to turn the corner. But at last she did.
Now that she was strong enough, Tiyana also underwent abdominal surgery to repair damage to her intestines. She could begin to eat again, and Dr. Tom put her on a nutritional regimen to help Tiyana recover from her emaciated state.
Three and a half months after arriving, Tiyana is finally out of the woods and feeling strengthened again. She was moved to a rehabilitative area of the hospital to complete her full TB treatment regimen, after which time she will return home as a healthy teenage girl once again.
“I am very thankful to God for this hospital because…I would have certainly lost my life just like many others,” Tiyana expressed. “My gratitude also goes to Dr. Tom and his team for their commitment to serving humanity and saving lives like mine.”
Tiyana was able to get quality care from an excellent surgeon at Mother of Mercy Hospital, ensuring she won’t become another victim to the deadly assault of tuberculosis. Your partnership and support of the hospital has given Tiyana and those like her new hope for their future.
These stories of Lives Saved are made possible by donors and supporters of Sudan Relief Fund. Each year, our donors fund nearly all the medicine used to treat patients like Tiyana at Mother of Mercy Hospital, saving countless lives.
Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.
Christine
The Sewing Machine that Built a House and Saved a Family
Making a difference is sometimes as simple as the gift of a tool – a common utility that can open up new worlds of opportunity. For Christine Stanley who struggled to feed her family and make ends meet, that gift was a sewing machine. And it changed her entire life.
Sudan Relief Fund partners with STAR Support Group in Yambio, South Sudan, to empower desperately impoverished people with the skills and means to sustain themselves. It’s the timeless concept of “give me a fish and I eat for a day; teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.”
Participants in the program receive skills training so they can build small businesses to support themselves and their families. They also receive basic finance instruction and tools needed to get started. The ripple effects of these opportunities benefit children, families, and sometimes even extended families and members of the community.
When Christine was identified as a candidate in severe need and joined the tailoring program, it wasn’t long before she became a star student. A single mother, she was dedicated and hard working, known for her quick learning and diligence toward her craft. When she graduated from the training in 2023, she received a special gift – her own sewing machine, along with materials to launch her start-up tailoring business.
Christine proved to be a capable entrepreneur. She saved meticulously and was blessed with a windfall of work during the busy Christmas season. Eventually she was able to save enough money to fulfill a landmark goal she’d dreamed of – a walled-in living accommodation for her and her children.
“Raising a wall was a challenge,” she said, “but with the help of my sewing machine, I’ve been able to provide a safe and secure space for my family.”
Christine is also able to pay for medicine that she needs. Knowing her business made it possible, she says, “I’m so grateful for the program. I can now afford my medication without depending on others.”
This budding entrepreneur did not stop there. She diversified her income-generating activities by investing part of her earnings into a garden. She even hired workers to expand its cultivation and production output. Now she feels secure that her family won’t grow hungry, and she’ll have extra to share or sell at the market.
Opportunity is rare for mothers like Christine in her region of Africa. That’s why this work is so vital here, bringing hope to the vulnerable and making the dependent become self sufficient.
Christine’s story is one of determination, empowerment, and the transformative power of support when simply given an opportunity. With no current challenges facing her or her family, she only wishes for Sudan Relief Fund to continue their life changing work, helping others in need become self-reliant, too.
These stories of lives saved are made possible by the generous and compassionate support of Sudan Relief Fund’s donor community. Thank you for changing lives like Christine’s and her children, who now face the future with hope and a solid foundation.
Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.
South Sudan Postpones Elections for Second Time
The government of South Sudan has announced it will postpone the general election that was scheduled to take place in December of this year.
This is the second time the government has postponed South Sudan’s elections, since a transitional government was formed in 2018 to end a bloody civil war between rivals Salva Kiir, the nation’s interim president, and Riek Machar, the sitting vice president.
The government cited a need for “more time” to complete prerequisites to the election that would include conducting a general census, drafting a permanent constitution, and registering political parties.
An added concern was instability in a nation already suffering the effects of extreme poverty, weather disasters, and a widespread famine worsened by an overwhelming influx of refugees escaping Sudan’s civil war.
Kiir’s office issued a statement saying, “There is a need for additional time to complete essential tasks before the polls,” adding that the country is going through an economic crisis in which civil servants haven’t been paid for nearly a year after its oil exports were affected by a damaged pipeline from the civil war in Sudan.
The United Nations echoed concerns in March over the possibility of chaos ensuing in South Sudan if elections were not managed carefully, noting “intensified fights over resources, high unemployment, political competition among the ruling elite, increased inter-communal clashes, and the added strain of returnees and refugees escaping the conflict” from Sudan’s civil war all contribute to its precarious state.
“There is a potential for violence with disastrous consequences for an already fragile country and the wider region,” the UN said further.
As of now, South Sudan’s general election has been pushed to December of 2026. It would be the first in the world’s youngest country, which only achieved its independence in 2011.
Sudan Relief Fund continues to deliver aid to the refugee crisis in South Sudan’s northern region, where Sudan’s ongoing civil war continues to force a steady flow of displaced people across the border.
Read more here:
South Sudan postpones December election by two years (Al Jazeera)
South Sudan’s Government Delays Presidential Vote by Two Years (yahoo.com)
Nuba Becomes Critical Passage to Get Help into Sudan
“We feel forgotten by the world”
The Nuba Mountains are at the heart of a growing humanitarian crisis, facing both the threat of catastrophic hunger and the potential to serve as a critical gateway for delivering desperately needed aid to millions displaced by Sudan’s civil war.
Since April of 2023 when Sudan’s capital erupted in violence, a steady flow of Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes. Many sought refuge in the Nuba Mountains, a rugged and isolated region that has so far been distanced from the frontlines of battle. While the violence here isn’t as severe as Khartoum (the nation’s capital), the massive influx of refugees and growing threat of widespread starvation makes the situation disastrous.
It’s estimated since war broke out the population of Nuba has increased from 1.2 million to 3.9 million people. Now it’s home to some of the largest refugee camps since the war’s onset.
Residents of Nuba were already struggling with a severe food shortage before their population more than tripled. Now Nuba, like the rest of Sudan, is at risk to see massive starvation. As many as 3 million people could soon starve to death, agencies warn.
Hope to Deliver Help
But agencies also say the Nuba Mountains could be the key to getting aid into a devastated nation, where both sides of the conflict have commandeered transportation routes, brought commerce and services to a halt, made planting and growing impossible, and blocked the flow of supplies.
Fighting has choked off vital resources from reaching civilians in desperate need of food and medical care, intensifying the suffering in what’s become the world’s largest displacement crisis.
“With rapidly increasing needs and relatively safe accessibility, the Nuba Mountains are one of the few places in Sudan where a robust aid response could be scaled up,” says Refugees International, who urges an immediate ramping up of humanitarian efforts, particularly through the border of South Sudan. “It is an opportunity that cannot be missed.”
With donor support, even now Sudan Relief Fund is mobilizing distribution efforts to Nuba to help meet the tremendous need.
Snapshot of Sudan Crisis:
- The number of displaced now approaches 11 million
- Famine is officially declared in parts of Sudan
- 9 out of 10 are malnourished
- Death by starvation is escalating
- 14 million children need humanitarian support
- 95 percent of hospitals are shut down as outbreaks of
cholera and dengue fever rise - War crimes and human rights violations continue
Crises Beyond Hunger
Besides the magnitude of the hunger crisis, refugees who endured hellish conditions to get to the Nuba Mountains face additional obstacles when they arrive.
Lack of Shelter
Without enough tarps to go around in camps intended for 10,000 that now host upwards of 35,000 residents or more, many families are left exposed during the rainy season – a time of “intense and prolonged” rainfall – increasing vulnerability to waterborne diseases such as malaria and typhoid often carried by mosquitoes.
Lack of Clean Water
It’s not unusual for the only borehole to be more than an hour away by foot in one direction. Women and girls spend entire days in long lines waiting to fill jerry cans with water and making the return trip back to camp, despite being weak from malnourishment.
Lack of Sanitation
Camps intended for thousands fewer residents than their burgeoning populations face woeful lack of latrines and sanitation. An assessment in April found that over 84 percent of respondents used no sanitation facilities and over 95 percent of respondents had no access to handwashing.
Lack of Medicine and Trauma Services
Trauma is an insidious side effect of the brutal war experience. One local official said, “People are very traumatized by the fighting…Many have seen people killed and raped.” Stories of human rights atrocities emerge as IDPs report what they’ve seen and experienced. Many are robbed and assaulted through various checkpoints. A coordinator from Refugees International said, “IDPs put on a strong face, but when you ask their kids…they say my mom is always crying.”
Some of the seriously injured sustain permanent handicaps. Victims find themselves navigating life in a refugee camp while coping with both physical and psychological trauma from their wounds. 33 year-old Hani lost her daughter and son in a bombing in Khartoum, as well as one of her legs. She pleads for aid to come for disabled IDPs.
Facing the Giant
Relief organizations are issuing a warning for the world to step up and take action against the swelling humanitarian crisis. “They will continue to come until there is peace,” says a local leader on the constant influx of refugees.
Prevent Imminent Starvation
The immediate need is food relief. More than 18 million people – equal to the entire population of the Netherlands – are currently at risk of catastrophic hunger. In some parts of Nuba it’s now a ten hour journey in one direction to find trees that may still hold edible leaves or nuts – a currency that can mean the difference between surviving one more day or succumbing to starvation.
An hour outside the Sobouri refugee camp – one of the three largest in Nuba – a nutritionist who works in a ramshackle cement health clinic recounts how fifty children have already died in his district – all under age 5. He’s out of electrolyte solution and therapeutic food for the malnourished. At this point he is no longer seeing patients because there’s nothing he can do for them.
Humanitarian Support
A substantial scale-up of humanitarian support is urgent since Nuba is one of the few areas humanitarian aid can enter Sudan via its neighbor to the South. Aid needs to include both immediate food relief as well as seeds and agricultural equipment to local groups, so they can eat not only now but also later.
How You Can Help
Sudan Relief Fund continues to work in the Nuba Mountains with local partners to provide food, clean water, shelter, and medicine for the displaced, and organize assistance across the border to South Sudan. If you would like to help, all gifts will be used to stop starvation and provide lifesaving aid to refugee families. Go here to help.
To read more, follow these links to the news stories:
SRF 2024 3rd Quarter Newsletter
SRF 2024 Q3 Newsletter
Abdullai
“Saving a Teen Boy in Critical Condition”
Every year Sudan Relief Fund donors provide nearly all the medicine used to heal the sick, treat wounds and infections, and support surgeries at Mother of Mercy Hospital in a remote region of Sudan. Your gifts are saving lives every day at this critical outpost of hope and help. Lives like 17 year-old Abdullai Suliman Angalo, from Reka.
Abdullai’s father was a soldier, so he was often away from home. But at age 17, Abdullai could take care of himself well and look after his younger siblings during his father’s absences.
Except when Abdullai mysteriously began to feel sick. In the beginning of April, Abdullai started to suffer from abdominal pain. He would lay down frequently, but it didn’t give him any relief. He felt nauseated and dizzy from the constant pain.
This time when his father returned home, he found his son in very sick condition. Like any concerned parent, he took Abdullai to the local health clinic in Reka. They gave Abdullai medication, but this didn’t alleviate his symptoms. He lost his appetite and began to vomit every time he tried to eat. Abdullai only grew sicker. Alarmingly, soon he could barely speak.
Abdullai’s father took his son back to the clinic, but they couldn’t provide him any further help. They told Abdullai’s father to get him to Mother of Mercy Hospital, the Sudan Relief Fund supported hospital in the Nuba Mountains – the only facility of its kind for hundreds of miles in all directions.
The renowned Dr. Tom Catena, a missionary doctor from New York State, has directed the facility since its founding nearly sixteen years ago. Dr. Tom also served as the hospital’s only resident surgeon for over fifteen years, working seven days a week and responding to emergencies at night. Now Dr. Tom is training up additional surgeons to serve at the hospital, and raising up health clinics across the Nuba Mountains to reach more people who lack health care.
Abdullai was admitted to the hospital and shortly thereafter received his diagnosis: he was suffering from acute appendicitis. As progressed as Abdullai’s condition was, it was remarkable his appendix hadn’t burst. He underwent emergency surgery to have the infected appendix removed.
Eighteen days of recovery later, Abdullai could talk again, walk without pain once more, and eat anything he wanted. He was thrilled at the restoration of his health. Most of all, he and his father were incredibly grateful for the lifesaving help they found at Mother of Mercy Hospital, which made all the difference in a young man’s life.
These stories of Lives Saved are made possible by your support of Sudan Relief Fund. Thanks to you, Mother of Mercy Hospital treats 75,000 patients and performs 2,000 surgeries every year for people in need. Thank you for transforming lives and bringing hope to dark places.Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.
Sudan Descends Into Famine
Humanitarian Agencies Plead for Help
A recent report from Angelus News reveals the escalating condition of Sudan’s catastrophic famine that has been exacerbated by ongoing civil war, particularly in areas like Nuba and Darfur. Sudan Relief Fund is among the few charitable agencies responding to the crisis in a vast humanitarian emergency that is largely being ignored.
The conflict has displaced over 10 million people, leaving them without access to food, clean water, and medical care, making it the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today. However, the dangerous conditions and logistical obstacles posed by the conflict have made it challenging to provide consistent and timely assistance, often hampering aid efforts.
Despite these challenges, Sudan Relief Fund continues to deliver life-saving support, particularly in areas like the Nuba Mountains, where Mother of Mercy is one of the few hospitals still operating during the civil war, providing critical medical care for the sick, injured, and malnourished. The article describes Dr. Tom Catena, hospital administrator and chief surgeon, and his team as “a glimmer of hope” in a famine that is on par to rival the travesty of Ethiopia during the 1980s.
Sudan Relief Fund also continues to provide food relief, clean water, shelter, and medical aid to the most vulnerable populations in places like the Malakal refugee camp, where hundreds of thousands of displaced have crossed the border from Sudan into South Sudan to escape the war. In conjunction with the local diocese, Sudan Relief Fund also operates a transport boat that carries refugee families safely to the only northern entry point into South Sudan.
Local Bishop Stephen Nyodho tells how the diocese was not prepared to receive so many displaced people, but with the help of Sudan Relief Fund they have been “able to provide daily rations for the refugees.” The diocese also provides priests in the camp who offer Mass to Catholic refugees. The Bishop says the presence of the priests creates “a concrete sign of hope to the desperate people of God.”
Sudan Relief Fund’s efforts continue to offer a lifeline to the millions affected by the devastating civil war and famine, although the scale of the crisis remains vast, and the need for continued international support is urgent.
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