Weeds, plants, and coal — survival food as famine deepens in Sudan
By Darina Rebro | August 13, 2025
Sudan (MNN) — The war in Sudan has brought famine on top of catastrophic damage to people’s lives. Many now survive on the bare minimum.
What was once a table of nourishing, flavorful dishes has been reduced to hurriedly plucked weeds boiled in hot water. As war and famine take hold of the land, Sudan’s people face daily survival, desperate for help.
Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says, “There are literally millions of people that are living on the threshold of starvation.”
Reports show many survive on just one meal of millet porridge a day, while others fill their stomachs with wild plants and weeds. In North Darfur, some have resorted to sucking on coal to ease hunger.
“And always, — says Kelley, — the unfortunate thing in these situations, always, those are the weakest that suffer the most — the women, the children, the people that can’t fight for themselves, provide for themselves. And so that makes a huge percentage of the country.”
In Sudanese areas where people rely on farming for their livelihood, ongoing fighting and shortages of farming resources are steadily shrinking the available agricultural land. In areas where certain food is available, prices are skyrocketing.
According to the World Health Organization, 25 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 100,000 cholera cases have been recorded since last July. This year, approximately 770,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
“Nearly 50% of the country is utterly dependent upon foreign aid of some kind, whether it’s through the UN or through NGOs,” says Kelley.
Yet many in desperate need remain unreachable. “There are cities that have been surrounded for over a
year now, and cities with approximately 300,000 people in them that you can’t penetrate, you can’t get into them because they’re surrounded by militia groups,” Kelley explains.
This crisis calls urgently for the global community to unite in prayer and strategic action for the Sudanese people, as they suffer from both famine and spreading disease.
“The church needs to look at these kind of opportunities as a situation where the suffering is present, but we can respond with a cup of cold water, with a hand of help, and minister to them in the name of Jesus,” says Kelley.
Visit Unknown Nations to learn more about the way you can help Sudanese people. Lift up in prayer the ministries serving Sudanese in conflict zones. Pray also for the 1% of local believers to persevere in faith and bring hope to others.
Header photo of herdsman courtesy of Unknown Nations.
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/fulani-attacks-moving-south-in-nigeria-impacting-food-security/