Starvation Won’t Wait – Save Children in the Nuba Mountains Donation Match

May 28, 2026

What can a mother do when there’s nothing to feed her children? She holds them tight and sings to drown out their hunger cries. This is happening every day to a million refugees trapped in a vicious and widespread famine across the Nuba Mountains. An inexpensive and highly effective nutrient paste known as Plumpy’Nut can save them. It’s used by doctors and NGOs to bring starving children back from the brink of death. Turn their cries into songs of hope. Today you can send twice the amount of Plumpy’Nut food relief with one gift. Every dollar sends two dollars of lifesaving nourishment. Please don’t wait – because starvation won’t.

SRF 2026 Q2 Webinar

May 27, 2026

Water That Saves Lives

May 21, 2026

The Miracle of Clean Water Wells

Lokiliri and her family were among the nearly 60 percent of South Sudan’s population who struggle to live with no clean water available to them.

Lokiliri would trek for six miles every day to reach a small, muddy watering hole—water shared by both people and animals. She gathered the dirty water in a heavy container for her family’s washing, cooking, and yes—drinking. Then she would haul it on the long trek back.

What’s more, Lokiliri faced danger every day that she made the perilous trip to the watering hole. Women traveling along the secluded route were sometimes assaulted. Can you imagine risking assault just looking for water?

Even after such a risk, the water she collected wasn’t safe to drink, teeming with bacteria that were dangerous to Lokiliri and her family. Over time, each of her three children was stricken with life threatening illnesses.

More Clean Water Than Ever Before

Last year with the partnership of our supporters, we were able to drill 50 clean water wells across Sudan and South Sudan – the highest number we’ve ever built in one year – and more are planned in 2026. The difference a well makes in a community is immense. Its impact is lifesaving and long lasting.

Here are some ways one well changes an entire community:

Clean water saves children.

One in every ten children in South Sudan dies before their fifth birthday. One of the main causes is consuming filthy water. Clean water saves children from these needless deaths.

Clean water protects women and girls.

Women and girls across South Sudan face perilous treks in search of water. Having a well in their community protects them from facing this risk every day.

Clean water helps children and girls go to school.

Children who aren’t sick from waterborne illnesses can go to school. Girls freed from hauling water for hours each day have time to go to school–greatly improving their opportunity to rise from poverty.

Clean water enables a sanitary and hygienic way of life.

Families with a community well can drink, bathe, cook, and wash dishes in safe water and avoid deadly contamination.

Wells safeguard families during dry season.

In the annual dry seasons, families face tremendous hardship finding water. A well protects the entire community and sustains families during dangerous droughts.

When clean water came to Lokiliri’s village, her oldest son, 16-year-old Oler, had been fighting near fatal dysentery. It left him on the verge of death for months.

He now stands strong and tall and no longer suffers from symptoms. Thanks to people like you, their family is now blessed with clean, pure drinking water.

There are thousands of stories like Lokiliri’s—families completely transformed by the gift of clean water. Communities sing, dance, and celebrate for joy when it comes into their lives. For these families, the day a clean water well is christened in their village is truly miraculous.

These stories of lives saved are made possible by people like you who support Sudan Relief Fund’s clean water initiatives and other transformative programs. Thank you for saving lives like Lokiliri’s family, and so many others.

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.

Philanthropy Daily Talks With Sudan Relief Fund’s Matt Smith

April 17, 2026

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.

Read the full Philanthropy Daily article.

Baby Girl Fights to Hang On: A Race Against Time

April 15, 2026

Her Mother Finds Help at Mother of Mercy

Little Mulsila’s first years of life were a fight from day one. Immediately after she was born, she was showing signs of sickness. She exhibited flu-like symptoms that were ongoing and seemed never ending. She had constant stomach problems and difficulty nursing. 

Mulsila was born into a family whose father is a soldier and whose mother helps farm the crops, since her father is often away. The family depends on farming for a living and for their daily sustenance.

Farming has been a challenge, to say the least, across much of South Sudan in recent years. Severe weather from floods to drought, and random conflicts destroy the land and interrupt planting, leading to food insecurity for many. A massive population of refugees coming into the country to escape war in Sudan put an additional burden on the strained food supply. This made daily life difficult for Mulsila’s family. 

When Mulsila’s health didn’t seem to improve, her mother took her to a local clinic in Katala where she was given medicine for the flu and a stomach ache. Unfortunately the medicine didn’t have the desired effect, and her baby’s symptoms did not go away.

Three months passed and Mulsila was brought in for a follow-up checkup and her condition had only worsened. Mulsila was diagnosed as severely malnourished. She was transferred to the Dalenj Hospital and because of the extent of her weakness, she was kept at the hospital for four months to receive ongoing nutrition support.

After four months, Mulsila was discharged and sent home, though her flu-like symptoms had not gone away. After being back home, she grew much sicker and started to have serious difficulty breathing. When her mother saw this, she took Mulsila to a different clinic in Timin. The doctor who examined the baby girl saw that her condition was critical. He advised Mulsila’s mother to take her to Mother of Mercy Hospital, where they might be able to save her.

Mother of Mercy Hospital was three days away by car, which was transportation Mulsila’s mother didn’t have. In a desperate search for help—and a miraculous answer—arrangements were worked out for little Mulsila to be transported by a Samaritan’s Purse convoy truck that was delivering humanitarian aid to the Nuba Mountains, which also happened to be where Mother of Mercy Hospital is located.

Mulsila’s mother held her baby girl tight in her arms as they traveled in the big cargo truck. Throughout the three day journey, she prayed that Mulsila would hang on. Mother of Mercy Hospital, a Sudan Relief Fund funded facility, is directed by missionary Dr. Tom Catena, a legendary figure in Nuba for bringing quality medical help that can’t be found anywhere else for hundreds of miles.

Prayers were answered and little Mulsila clung to life as they reached Mother of Mercy Hospital. She was admitted without delay and underwent tests to determine what was causing her health issues. Besides being chronically malnourished, Mulsila’s mother learned that her baby girl was suffering from tuberculosis (TB).

There is a dedicated tuberculosis ward at Mother of Mercy Hospital for children suffering with the disease. While TB can be deadly, there is a good rate of survival and recovery if proper treatment is received. However, Mulsila was under five years old—a higher risk factor—and no one knew exactly how long she’d been suffering from the illness, so it was difficult to determine the best treatment protocol.

Mulsila was given intensive nutrition treatment for malnourishment and put on a protocol of medicines to treat the tuberculosis. All the while, the baby girl held on. Then one day, she began to improve. Her symptoms gradually declined. An eventful four months after she was admitted to Mother of Mercy, Baby Mulsila was well and released to go home. 

Mulsila fully recuperated from all her symptoms. Now a toddler, she can walk and even run and play like a little girl her age should be able to—because of a committed mother, a fortuitous truck convoy, and because the medical help she needed was there for her in a remote referral hospital in the Nuba Mountains.

These stories of lives saved are possible because of people like you, who support Sudan Relief Fund’s medical mission facilities like Mother of Mercy Hospital that bring medical care to people and places without it. Thank you for saving children like Mulsila, and so many others who are blessed by these lifesaving programs. 

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.

In Dr. Tom’s Own Words

April 8, 2026

A Personal Interview with Dr. Tom Catena

“When you’re a doctor, you want to go where the need is.” – Dr. Tom, on his chosen path

Dr. Tom Catena has been hailed as one of the world’s most renowned missionary doctors, serving as a founder, medical director, and for many years the sole surgeon of Mother of Mercy Hospital – a remote referral hospital in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. Through civil wars, famines, and great risk to his life when he’s been forced to jump into foxholes to survive, “Dr. Tom” has refused to leave the 400 patients he sees a day for an easier doctor’s life – a figure now nearing 500 daily since the escalation of Sudan’s civil war.

During a brief visit to the United States, Senior Vice President Matt Smith had the rare opportunity to sit down with Dr. Tom Catena for this personal interview. Dr. Tom shares his story from his auspicious beginnings as an engineering student and football player at Brown University, to the journey that led him to choose a calling as a mission doctor in one of the most desolate and underserved areas on earth. You’ll hear how the hospital he began with 80 beds now holds 480, serves three times its usual patient load treating malnourished children in the midst of Sudan’s famine, and how his vision of expansion clinics is bringing health care to people without it. Take a rare look into his personal life with heartwarming updates about his wife and growing family. Learn how the hospital is responding to the worst crisis in Sudan he’s ever seen. And discover how faith and the prayers of supporters sustain him to carry on his mission.

“When you see that kind of courage, that resilience, you think, who am I to complain?… Let’s keep working hard for these people who are suffering.” – Dr. Tom, on the people he serves

An Easter Message of Hope and Encouragement

April 1, 2026

As much of the world prepares to celebrate the Easter season, our neighbors in Sudan and South Sudan are struggling through multiple, overlapping crises. Thank you for all you do to bring hope into suffering lives. As Jesus brought victory over death, you are shining light into the darkness. Pray that the hope and promise of this wondrous day will lift our suffering brothers and sisters with encouragement and fill them with hope that transcends their earthly struggles.

Easter reminds us that even in the face of suffering and loss, renewal is possible and life can emerge where it once seemed absent. It is a time to remember the power of compassion, sacrifice, and enduring faith in something greater than ourselves. As we look to Sudan and South Sudan, we are reminded that hope is not abstract—it is carried through the actions of those who choose to serve, to give, and to stand alongside others in their time of need.

May this season encourage a renewed sense of purpose, bring comfort to those who are struggling, and inspire continued generosity for those seeking relief and restoration.

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Click here to find out more.

SRF 2026 1st Quarter Newsletter

March 27, 2026

Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Leprosy

Serving “The Least of These” in Wau

It’s difficult to believe the scourge of leprosy still exists in our modern age — but in Sudan and South Sudan, innocent people continue to suffer from this terrible disease that is both treatable and curable.

In Agok, a community almost an hour outside Wau, there are two hundred families who know this very well — families who would be starving if it weren’t for the care provided by SRF in partnership with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.

With support from donors, SRF is able to supply essential food and non-food items to these many families who would otherwise be rendered a death sentence from their illness.

The Franciscan Sisters from Wau regularly visit the community to deliver food and supplies. The members of the Agok community receive medicine to treat the illness and stop it in its tracks. Damage from the disease cannot be reversed, but its progression can be stopped.

Education Against All Odds

Primary and Vocational Training Thrives at Ave Maria

The seeds of a brighter tomorrow are being steadily nurtured through the education programs at Ave Maria Parish. Built from the ground up by the tireless dedication of Father Avelino and Father Albert, and supported by generous funding from SRF donors, the community is currently running three nursery schools, two primary schools, one secondary school and a vocational training center.

The vocational training center has become especially promising. Its carpentry track has been so successful that two small businesses have recently launched from it, one in the local parish and another in Yambio, providing both income and dignity for the graduates.

The center has expanded to include electrical, plumbing and mechanical, and arc welding training. A fourth section is about to be added in tailoring and dressmaking.

Daily operations at the schools have been aided immeasurably by the assistance of four members of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of Guadalupe. Since arriving last spring, the sisters have provided invaluable support to the many IDP children thriving in the parish classrooms.

Western Equatoria presents a difficult backdrop against which to provide education — yet through your support and God’s grace, a significant difference is being made.

The Lives You’ve Saved

A Miracle of Healing at St. Theresa Hospital

Funded generously by SRF donors, the Graham Pediatric Center at St. Theresa Hospital Nzara opened its doors to the community in August.

The first patients seen were a young mother who brought her three year-old girl, Sadia, and baby boy, Luak, to the children’s ward. Both were suffering from symptoms of malaria, a disease that claims thousands of lives each year in South Sudan. But the illness is curable if prompt and effective treatment is received.

Both Sadia and Baby Luak were admitted and immediately put on a protocol of antimalarial medications. The children responded very well to treatment. Within 48 hours, their symptoms were gone, and brother and sister were discharged to return home. The toddlers’ mother was extremely relieved and expressed her deep gratitude for saving her children from the grip of malaria.

St. Theresa Hospital serves a vast population stretching from South Sudan to the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The mission hospital is dedicated to providing some of the best medical care the country has to offer, and people travel long distances to seek treatment they can’t get anywhere else.

Celebrating Resilience, Praying for Peace

A Community Unites to Show Its Strength

In Tombura, members of Catholic Action, a group for committed laypeople to serve their community and church, gather in a special vigil to promote peace and resilience.

The services and prayers were led by Father Avelino and Father Albert of Ave Maria Parish.

The region has been beset by heavy fighting, resulting in more than 1,000 people being displaced in the past 6-12 months.

This gathering highlighted their faith and fortitude through growing challenges, celebrating the power of ministry and importance of community.

Download SRF 2026 1st Quarter Newsletter Here

Nearly 200 Civilians Killed in Targeted Attacks

March 26, 2026

US Bishops Speak Out on Behalf of Catholic Brethren 

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement on March 2nd in support of Catholic civilian populations in South Sudan facing escalating violence, following two separate incidents that claimed nearly 200 lives. 

In late February, at least 22 people were killed in a deliberate attack in Jonglei state, as villagers were reportedly lured into a gathering with promises of distributing food relief. According to Ayod County sources, the villagers were instead fired upon in a sudden massacre that included women and children among the victims. 

A second attack occurred between March 1st and 2nd as a group of “armed youths” reportedly stormed the county headquarters in Unity State and attacked government offices. The death toll reached an estimated 170 victims, among whom were local government officials, security personnel, and civilians. The county commissioner and executive director were also killed in the assault. 

Homes and markets were destroyed by fire in the March onslaught, killing women, children, and elderly, while over 1,000 civilians fled to a nearby UN peacekeeping base during the mayhem. 

“I write to express our profound ecclesial solidarity with the Church in South Sudan, as you mourn the killing of approximately 200 innocent civilians in Ayod County in Jonglei state and Abiemnhom County in the Ruweng Administrative area,” Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, local ordinary of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, expressed. “These acts represent not only a tragic loss of life, but a fresh descent into the abyss of human depravity, where the sanctity of life, a sacred gift from God, is trampled upon with alarming impunity.” 

A statement issued by the chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace also denounced the killings as an intolerable “disregard for the sanctity of human life.” 

Zaidan added, “We are deeply alarmed by the recent escalation of violence” and that “every massacre is a defeat of our humanity.” 

The USCCB solidarity statement heralds growing concern over renewed violent uprisings in parts of South Sudan where intercommunal clashes are increasingly undermining fragile peace efforts. 

Bishop Zaidan urged “the Catholic faithful in the US, and all people of goodwill, to pray and work for an end to the cycles of trauma, retaliation, and violence gravely afflicting communities” across South Sudan.”

He also called for greater international assistance, including basic humanitarian services, pastoral care, and psychosocial support “for the millions currently in distress,” in an area of the world where ongoing crises are largely under-reported and underserved in the global arena 

Sudan Relief Fund continues to support refugee camps in Sudan and South Sudan with humanitarian aid, including food support, shelter, medicine, and care for children and orphans.

News References

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/03/18/u-s-catholic-bishops-express-solidarity-with-church-in-south-sudan-as-over-170-killed

https://apnews.com/article/south-sudan-jonglei-ayod-killings-3a80749870051de4bcebf2083415dc97

SRF 2026 Q1 Webinar

March 24, 2026