Famine in Nuba: Hunger Crisis Escalates

Rush Twice the Food – All Gifts Doubled

In the Nuba Mountains of war torn Sudan, workers at a health clinic screen 100-150 children every day for malnourishment. They measure tiny arms with a colored measuring tape that indicates levels of malnutrition: green, yellow, or red. Red means the child is “severely malnourished.”

Every day some 30-50 children are diagnosed in the red. They’re the ones at highest risk of dying from starvation. 30 to 50 children, every day.

Right now through August 1st, there is an opportunity to double every dollar of food sent to starving children.

When the Food Supply is Wiped Out

What do you do when your food supply is erased? When all the normal sources you turn to are gone? Because of the war in Sudan, commerce shipments are stopped. Trade routes are controlled by militia. Businesses are no longer operating. Farming is interrupted. Fields used for planting crops have become staging areas for fighting. 

Suddenly, there is no food supply.

Some families were able to get out. Since the war began, over 4 million people fled into bordering countries. But up to an estimated 11 million remain displaced inside Sudan.

Right now more than a million refugees and internally displaced people – primarily mothers and children fleeing the war – are huddled in overcrowded camps in the Nuba Mountains. Famine affects the entire country. In the Nuba Mountains, desperate mothers have nothing to feed their children. They collect leaves that have no nutritional value and boil them for their children anyway, hoping it will ease the ache in their empty stomachs.

Without help, orphans in South Sudan face starvation.

Measuring Starvation in Children

At the clinic in the Nuba Mountains, an emaciated toddler named Ahmed lay motionless on the table. His arm drooped limply at his side as he was examined. Not surprisingly, the tape measure indicated he was in the red zone – severely malnourished.

But little Ahmed received critical, lifesaving help. Just five days after taking Plumpy’Nut nourishment, his tape measure moved from red into the yellow zone. In just five days. With continued treatment, he will soon be in the green, and out of danger. At least for now.

Double the Help for Severely Malnourished Children

There is hope for these malnourished children – with your help and a compassionate matching grant that will DOUBLE every gift to rush food to the Nuba Mountains.

Our supporters know how dire the conditions are since the war in Sudan devastated the country, leaving millions of people with nothing. Since the war’s outset, we’ve been on the ground saving lives with food and medicine shipments. But the need is immense.

Many have wanted to do more to help. Right now, generous donors have pledged to match every gift, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, to rush more Plumpy’Nut nutrition to refugee mothers and children at risk of starving. 

1 in 10 children die before 5 without lifesaving care and support.

A Little Food with a Lot of Nutrition

Plumpy’Nut is an inexpensive, medically formulated nutrition paste similar to peanut butter. It’s highly effective in treating extreme malnutrition. Within just days of treatment, emaciated children like tiny Ahmed can chart significant improvement.

Within a few weeks these children can be fully rehabilitated – staving off the life threatening and potentially permanent effects of malnutrition that stunts growing children.

Through our partners and donors, Sudan Relief Fund has been sending Plumpy’Nut to the Nuba Mountains, treating rising numbers of children who come to Mother of Mercy Hospital and the local health clinics for help.

But with the disastrous effects of war and widespread famine, the supply of Plumpy’Nut can scarcely keep up with the demand. As the war drives more refugees south toward the hospital, director and missionary doctor, Tom Catena, reports that the hospital is giving it to children as fast as it comes in.

More supplies are urgently needed to save children. “Every day is a struggle,” Dr. Tom describes.

“The people of the Nuba Mountains have been suffering…. from bombings, from displacement, from starvation,” he said. “These are real people, families, children, who deserve the same dignity and care as anyone else on this planet.”

Disabled children are sadly often abandoned, but find care at St. Bakhita Orphanage.

A Young Mother’s Struggle

Like so many other young women with husbands at war, tragedy struck Sarah’s household. Her husband was lost in the fighting and she found herself alone in a struggle to provide for her children. Now she battles to keep her twin daughters, Aziz and Adah, alive, with no income and no means to support her family.

She fled with her twin girls, searching for food. They went for days with nothing. Sarah was overwhelmed with fear and panic as the little girls grew lethargic. She carried them for miles to a clinic where she hoped to find help. There, her twin girls received nutritional support that saved their lives.

Will the World Look Away?

Sisters Aziz and Adah wouldn’t have survived without the help they found in time, rescuing them from the brink of starvation. What if that help hadn’t been available? 

In one of the worst humanitarian crises on record, millions of mothers and children are in immediate need of food relief. Starvation is claiming lives.

Dr. Tom and the teams at the expansion clinics are working around the clock to save lives. They need support. They need additional nutrition supplies. Will you stand with them?

“True solidarity demands…. action,” Dr. Tom continued. “It demands that people advocate for the forgotten. That resources flow to the places where they’re needed most. And that we refuse to accept a world where millions of people are left to suffer in silence.”

Orphans are in danger of exploitation. His future depends on the compassion of others.

An Incredible Opportunity to Make a Difference

There is an incredible opportunity to save twice as many children suffering from life threatening hunger.

Right now, generous and concerned donors are standing by to match your gift. They are prepared to double all donations to ship Plumpy’Nut to Dr. Tom at Mother of Mercy Hospital and to the expansion health clinics, with a dollar for dollar match up to $100,000 through August 1st.

Your gift of $25, $50, or $100 will become $50, $100, or $200 to help emaciated toddlers like Ahmed, or sisters like Aziz and Adah. Up to $100,000 in matching gifts can send up to $200,000 in lifesaving nourishment to children.

If you are moved or able and want to help more, ongoing giving ensures a steady supply of food relief can be sent to children caught in the terrible famine that ravages Sudan. It will replenish stocks of Plumpy’Nut, and help more children in need.

These hungry children have nowhere else to go. They are victims of a devastating war. Their desperate mothers have nothing to feed them. Can you imagine the anguish of a mother facing such an agonizing and helpless situation?

But there is something we can do. Plumpy’Nut saves malnourished children. Together we can save more. Right now, thanks to the matching opportunity through August 1, your donation will double in impact. Please act now.

At orphanages like Pan Ngath, kids can feel safe and secure again.

Sincerely,

Neil A. Corkery President