In mid-April, Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s executive director Andy Harrington visited a displaced persons’ camp in Sudan, the northeast African country that has been mired in three years of civil war.
The camp was one of over 50 in Port Sudan, a city of about a half million people. In this camp alone, more than 200 families now live, having fled the war.
The camp used to be supplied with food by the United Nations, but stopped receiving aid when cutbacks forced the organization to halt shipments.
“They’re just having to look out for themselves,” said Harrington. “They’re doing a great job, but with no resources. They’re just trying to share what they can from whatever other aid groups can spare.”
While walking through the camp, a woman approached Harrington with a plate of homemade pastries and offered one to Harrington.
His first thought was to say no. “This is a place where there’s nothing,” he said, adding it didn’t seem right to eat in front of people who were hungry.
But before Harrington could decline, a staff member from a local Sudanese aid group intervened, whispering: “’You must take one. It is culturally really important for you to eat this.’”
And he did. “It was incredibly delicious,” he said. “But it was also ironic that she was feeding me in a place of absolute devastation where there was no food … it was a beautiful and horrendous and generous moment all at the same time.”
For Harrington, the experience was a reminder of the need for Canadians to also be generous in helping people in Sudan.
“She gave out of nothing,” he said. “It really brought home to me the absolute need for us as an international community to respond to the people who are suffering there.”
‘Not turn away’
Sudan’s humanitarian crisis was sparked in 2023 by a power struggle between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group.
Today, in the country of 52-million people, more than 13-million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. And more than 21-million people are facing acute hunger as a result of the fighting.
The Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-supported aid organizations, is responding by providing aid to over 120,000 people, including 60,000 children. It runs projects in Sudan and the neighbouring country of South Sudan, where many Sudanese have fled for safety.
“We are doing all that we can,” said Harrington. He noted that few people in Canada know about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan due to all the news about the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
The Foodgrains Bank is inviting Canadians to respond through its Sudan Hunger Crisis Appeal.
“We ask Canadians to not turn away,” Harrington said. “If our own children were starving, we would hope the world wouldn’t look away from us. Sudan deserves that same attention. They deserve to be heard and helped.”
While Harrington was in Sudan, the Canadian government announced it will provide $120-million in humanitarian assistance for people in Sudan and neighbouring countries impacted by the conflict. Some of those funds will go to the Foodgrains Bank’s member organizations.
The Islamic Relief Canada is also providing assistance. It is working through the humanitarian charity Islamic Relief Worldwide to provide food to more than two million people in Sudan, which is a predominantly Muslim country.
Islamic Relief has also launched an appeal for Sudan at https://www.islamicreliefcanada.org.
In April, the OECD said that global development aid fell 23 per cent in 2025 — a “historic decline.” It pointed to the U.S. withdrawal of aid, but also aid reductions by 26 of 34 OECD member countries.
Due to cutbacks, aid from international organizations like the United Nations has fallen “far short of what is needed,” said Islamic Relief Canada media relations specialist Houda Kerkadi.
Many people in Sudan depend on community kitchens for food. But over 40 per cent of them have shut down due to lack of funding, she said.
“These kitchens are a vital lifeline for communities facing acute hunger, displacement, and loss and a last line of defence against famine in many areas,” Kerkadi said. Volunteers often have to turn people away because there is no food, she added.
