(Eric) This past year has been enormously challenging for Team Zamzam as they struggle to provide humanitarian assistance in North Darfur, a region that continues to be the epicenter of what is now almost universally described as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis.
In April, Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons was overrun by the genocidal Rapid Support Forces (RSF), forcing some five hundred thousand civilians to flee for their lives, including Team Zamzam, which had been working in the camp for almost five years. Many people, especially the least mobile, were killed while attempting to escape this brutal militia; but many more have died while in flight—from lack of food, water, and shelter. The majority of those fleeing Zamzam went to the west, and almost miraculously, Team Zamzam was able to reconstitute itself in Tina on the Darfur/Chad border (Tiné is the name of the Chadian part of this city).
The tasks of the Team continue to be multiple, but the primary focus of our monthly budgets has been food for acutely malnourished children. In the course of the year (excluding mid-April through June, when no work was possible) we provided at least some food relief to approximately 125,000 people, most of them children, including a staggering number of orphans and unaccompanied minors. Large quantities of medicine and hygienic supplies were also provided. And hundreds of girls and women received expert psychosocial counseling—in group and individual sessions—from the highly experienced women of Team Zamzam.
These achievements can be replicated in 2026 only with continual financial support from those who realize the scale of the catastrophe we see in North Darfur. It is now possible to make a tax-deductible contribution to our project, using a portal on the website of a 501/c/3 organization operating in Sudan. Operation Broken Silence, our fiscal partner, works primarily on health and education issues in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan; OBS has created a special site for tax-deductible contributions to our project, and we hope this makes contributing to the health and well-being of the people served by Team Zamzam easier for donors.
PROJECT ZAMZAM IN 2026
(Links below are to the 12 primary monthly updates for the year; there are in several cases overlaps in work reported over two consecutive months and for some months supplementary updating. During the months from mid-April to through June, the reports are essentially updates on humanitarian conditions and security threats in North Darfur, as Team Zamzam struggled to reconstitute itself in Tina.)
January (2025)
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Key data from these updates are consolidated below, again by month. Food prices continue to fluctuate for a variety of reasons, although famine is the chief driver of high food prices. The Team reports the following as typical prices for current purchases, purchases that consume over 90% of the monthly budget after salaries for members of Team Zamzam ($250/month, with approximately 20 team members—thus a monthly salary budget of $5,000):
Sugar: 50kgm bag of sugar costs about $50
Flour: 50kgm bag of flour costs about $17
Powdered milk: 50kgm bag of powdered milk costs about $35
Rice: 25kgm bag of rice costs about $25
Red lentils: 25kgm bag of red lentils costs about $13.
Non-food item: a carton of 48 bars of soap is about $25
MONTHLY SUMMARIES FOR 2025
The total annual budget for Project Zamzam was $195,000.
January (2025)
Budget: $25,000
$5,000 for Team salaries
$20,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine
Again, the full updates—with distribution details—are linked to above; they in turn link to or conjoin with the actual report form the coordinating counselor of Team Zamzam, which report is translated by Gaffar and also archived at www.sudanreeves.org.
9,700 people fed (primarily malnourished children)(There is no agreed upon figure for “family size” in the chaotic and challenging environment of the IDP camps. Moreover, “families” and “households” may be different in number (the latter used for a larger group of people). For arithmetic simplicity, average family size here is assumed to be four; this accords with the data as Team Zamzam reports them. It may well be greater, in which case the number of people fed would be higher than I present here in several places.
Girls and women receiving psychosocial counseling: number not specified
February 2025:
Budget: $25,000
$5,000 for Team salaries
$17,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine, and three surgeries for traumatic fistula
$3,000 for rehabilitation of primary water well serving hundreds of families
1,130 people fed (primarily malnourished children, the elderly, and the disabled)
Of Note: Team Zamzam engaged this month in a characteristically wide range of camp activities:
16 inspection visits were undertaken to all shelter centers for newly displaced people, assessing living conditions, taking notes and listening to people’s concerns.
4 different meetings were held with the shelter representatives, neighborhood representatives, and women’s groups to share views on the present challenges.
A total of 42 persons were taken to different hospitals and clinics for treatment and consultation.
3 fistula patients have been accompanied to different hospitals and clinics for treatment and post-operative care.
A water well was completely repaired and now serves many hundreds of people; this was accompanied by a ceremony organized by Team Zamzam.
March 2025 (including through mid-April)
Budget: $20,000
$5,000 for Team salaries
$15,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine
10,500 families (42,000 people) received some food relief (this large amount of relief includes some of the April budget prior to Rapid Support Forces assault on Zamzam in the middle of that month; see below)
Number of girls and women receiving psychosocial counseling not reported
April 2025
Budget: $25,000
$5,000 for Team salaries
(See March figures for number of food beneficiaries in both March and the first half of April)
May 2025
Budget: $5,000
$5,000 for Team salaries as they attempt to reconstitute the project in Tina/Tiné, beginning without resources other than their salaries and remaining monies from April budget.
June 2025
Budget: $5,000
$5,000 for Team salaries as they attempt to reconstitute the project in Tina/Tiné, beginning without resources other than their salaries and remaining monies from the April budget.
July 2025
Budget: $15,000
$5,000: Team salaries
$10,000: Expenses associated with the project in Tina/Tiné:
• Securing a large communal living space for themselves and their families;
• Establishing excellent relations with the local authorities in Tiné/Tina and have traveled to the capital of Chad (N’Djamena) to explain their mission
• The Team has made a number of key purchases:
A small solar generator
3 telephones to communicate within the area and with Gaffar
Cooking utensils and serving plates and bowls (required in great number as all those in Zamzam were lost with the RSF assault
Purchase of:
12 tents
Numerous mattresses/blankets/sleeping covers
Very substantial quantities of food
August 2025
Budget: $15,000
$5,000 Team salaries
$10,000 for food and other supplies as needed; the graphic below gives a sense of improved reporting by the Team.
Notably, there were 33 individual counseling sessions, a sign of how fully Team counselors are now trusted, even in very new circumstances, in this most confidential of roles.
September – October 2025
Budget for the two months: $30,000
$10,000 Team salaries
$20,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine
18,000 children fed in weekly breakfasts
11,000 people fed in communal breakfasts
52 individual counseling sessions; 12 group sessions
November 2025
Budget: $15,000
$5,000 Team Salaries
$10,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine
13,500 people fed, primarily under the age of 18
December 2025
Budget: $15,000
$5,000 Team salaries
$10,000 for food, hygienic supplies, medicine
15,000 people received food assistance, 80% of them children
13 group counseling sessions were conducted; 36 individual counseling sessions
The December report from the coordinating counselor gives an especially detailed account of what was achieved during the month as well as plans to increase their humanitarian reach:
• Continued and expanded food assistance due to persistent food insecurity
• Increased access to psychosocial and counseling services
• Support for women and vulnerable groups facing protection risks
• Enhanced nutritional support for malnourished children and pregnant or lactating women.
In addition to these demands, refugees appealed for increased intervention from humanitarian organizations to ensure access to essential basic services, including adequate food supplies, safe drinking water, and essential medicines.
Counseling Sessions
Attendance in group sessions increased significantly, reflecting growing trust and engagement among beneficiaries. In addition, new counseling techniques were introduced to foster a more positive, supportive, and friendly atmosphere between counselors and beneficiaries, enhancing the overall effectiveness of the sessions.
For the upcoming period, counselors plan to expand group counseling sessions by increasing participation from an initial average of 12 beneficiaries per session to 18 beneficiaries per session, in order to reach more individuals in need of psychosocial support.
Annex
• Several recent humanitarian assessments, along with several other maps of North Darfur in the Tina/Tiné area may be found here.
• A number of testimonials from victims of sexual violence have been added to the existing and quite extensive compendium at: https://wp.me/p45rOG-2I3
• Photos of Team Zamzam in action have been added to a growing collection:
https://sudanreeves.org/2025/11/04/photographs-of-team-zamzam-in-action-november-4-2025/
• Photos of the children Team Zamzam is assisting may be found here.