The impact of the conflict on children is profound and far reaching. 

In Sudan, nearly 700,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and 14 million children need aid. Thousands have been killed or injured, and many face grave protection risks. There are reports of children being recruited into armed groups. In Chad, young girls have spoken to Plan International about sexual violence they have experienced or witnessed.

Around 25 million people in Sudan, approximately five times Ireland’s population, need humanitarian assistance. Disease outbreaks are rising due to disrupted public health services. In Sudan, the economy is in decline, with the International Monetary Fund projecting 18.3% GDP contraction in 2024. 

Food prices have soared. UN’s World Food Programme warns that staple grain prices are expected to rise to 200 percent above last year, leaving nearly eighteen million people, roughly the population of the Netherlands, facing acute food insecurity.

Of these, 4.9 million people “are on the brink of famine,” experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative warns. The conflict’s expansion into key agricultural regions has exacerbated food insecurity.

A senior UN official been quoted as saying that more than 1,000 people have crossed the border into Adré, on some days, and that 90% of them say they left Sudan due to food insecurity.

Hunger and violence make a deadly combination. While receiving dignity kits, which contain hygiene products and sanitary items, in Abutenge refugee camp in Adré, Sudanese refugee girls share their experiences of brutal sexual violence. UN experts express alarm about the widespread use of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, as a tool of war to subjugate, terrorise, break and punish women and girls.

Only 12% of the US$ 2.7 billion being sought for Sudan by the UN and humanitarian agencies has been raised. Immediate action is crucial to alleviate this unprecedented crisis. Donors need to contribute more. The world needs to be more compassionate to children of Sudan’s brutal war. There is no suffering left in hell; it is all in the daily lives and young minds of children in war and conflict zones.

Children need to come first. 

Everything is needed here – clean water, sanitation, food and nutrition assistance and medical care. People also need cash. Cash and voucher assistance is a type of humanitarian aid that allows people to buy goods and services for themselves, based on their own needs and preferences, providing the flexibility that is needed in dynamic emergency settings. 

Most importantly, such an approach ensures the dignity of crisis affected people by giving them choices. Cash and vouchers assistance is emerging as a preferred form of humanitarian assistance. The State of the World’s Cash 2023 report says that in 2022, US$ 7.9 billion was transferred as cash or vouchers to crisis affected people, marking 21% of the international humanitarian assistance, globally. 

Supporting children who have witnessed horror, who are out of school or missing their education, who have lost their parents or been separated from friends and families and are at high risk is the first step. 

Plan International and our local partner organisations are running learning and recreational activities to support children. In temporary learning places, children learn the alphabet and arithmetic, benefitting from a safe and supportive environment and the opportunity to continue their education and develop essentials skills.

In child-friendly spaces, children play and practise art, techniques to help distract them from painful memories and process traumatic experiences. There is only so much young minds can take.

Temporary learning places and child friendly spaces are sanctuaries where children can heal, cope, and rediscover hope. These safe havens offer the invaluable gift of allowing a child to be simply a child. 

In a child-friendly space in Adré, with a tiny smile on her face, four-year-old Lamia* is putting her best effort into drawing a kite. Children in another conflict zone once told me that kites rise against the wind, not with it – a simple truth that applies to kites and to the lives of refugee children trying to beat the odds.

“I come to the child-friendly space to forget the killing I witnessed back home,” said Zenab* who at just seven years old registers the importance of safe play spaces for children who are survivors of wars and conflicts.

Her friends say she was a quiet and shy child when she first came to the play centre. They have witnessed her becoming bolder and more talkative, Zenab has even started making plans for her future telling me she wants to be a doctor to help children. A decision made in hope.

Some decisions are made in fear. Some decisions are made in hope. For Sudanese children, life is often the journey between fear and hope. 

*Names have been changed to protect identities