Emergency Food Delivery in Darfur

By Debbie DeVoe

WEST DARFUR STATE, Sudan — Like so many days in the desert, the sky is cloudless, and the afternoon sun beats down relentlessly. And like so many other days, a line of Darfuris gathers at the edge of a village to pick up monthly food rations. What was never meant to become routine is now commonplace.

"Sadly, this is an exercise that has become all too familiar for both our CRS food program staff and the residents of villages throughout our area of operation in West Darfur," says Bill Schmitt, northern area coordinator in West Darfur for Catholic Relief Services in Sudan. "The communities are thankful for the food support but look forward to the day when they will no longer need it. Until then, they do everything they can to help with the distributions."

A Group Effort

Since November 2004, CRS has partnered with the U.N. World Food Program to distribute emergency food rations. The World Food Program uses contractors to truck food for 2 million Darfuris hundreds of miles overland, from Port Sudan on the Red Sea to the largest towns in Darfur and then out to rural communities. In the state of West Darfur, Catholic Relief Services — working with 35 locally organized food relief committees — helps to ensure that emergency rations are distributed fairly each month to about 150,000 people affected by the ongoing conflict.

"Each village in an area has one member on the food relief committee," explains Mohammed Narawad, a local sheik and head of the committee for the Arwa area. "That member knows what people need and shares this with CRS."

Six men and six women serve as members on each committee. These volunteers work with CRS to determine who needs the emergency rations most, manage beneficiary lists and ensure eligible families receive the correct amount of food. A wide range of people receive the rations at CRS-supported sites in West Darfur, including people living in camps, people who have fled and now returned to their homes, and even those who never had to leave their houses but who are struggling to make ends meet due to the ongoing violence.

Take the village of Wadi Bardi, far up West Darfur's northern corridor — the 85-mile stretch north of El Geneina. Last December, on a scorching Tuesday that offered no relief from the heat, about 500 residents gathered at a dusty open field. Chatting with neighbors and squatting in circles under any available shade, they waited patiently for up to four hours for their name to be called.

Dedicated food relief committees confirmed inventories, organized sacks of foods and double-checked lists to ensure equitable distributions. They then called each family forward to collect their rations: beans, sorghum, salt, sugar, vegetable oil and corn-soy blend, all in specific amounts depending on family size.

"I'm happy to work as a volunteer member of the food relief committee because I am able to help my people," adds Abdullah Assal, a CRS beneficiary and volunteer committee member.

Help and Hope

The CRS-organized food relief committees play an even more important role during times of insecurity. When attacks increase in an area, the committees collect the bulk food directly from the World Food Program when security allows delivery, handling distributions on their own.

Sometimes, however, distributions simply aren't possible due to skirmishes. Since late 2007, the government has closed parts of the northern corridor to humanitarian aid as it takes measures to drive rebels out of the region. As a result, CRS has only been able to deliver rations to 10 out of 27 sites in the northern corridor this year.

The insecurity in the northern corridor has forced CRS to restrict other services at times as well, including health, nutrition and agriculture activities provided both to nomadic communities affected by the conflict and to communities hosting displaced people. In the El Geneina area, however, CRS has been able to continue with regular activities, including training of volunteer teachers, nutrition education, construction of hand-washing facilities and latrines, other health and hygiene initiatives, and shelter assistance for newly displaced families arriving at El Geneina camps.

Back in Wadi Bardi, the last families finally loaded their monthly rations onto the backs of donkeys and horse-drawn carts. The less fortunate, including small children and the elderly, hefted their heavy loads onto their own backs for the long walk home.

"My family relies heavily on the direct food assistance from CRS," shares Zeinab Hassan Abakar, speaking for her family of seven. "We thank you for your help and hope that you will continue to help us in the future."

The aid will continue whenever and wherever possible, but neither hope nor food will return life to normal for Zeinab and millions of other Darfuris.

Debbie DeVoe is CRS' regional information officer in East Africa based in Nairobi. Bill Schmitt of CRS Sudan contributed to this story.