Sudan: Our Recipe is Definitely Working!

We met them for the first time at our Paediatric Centre in the Mayo camp, Sudan, along with his mother, Rashawa. They had come to our centre because Rashawa was worried about her son’s flu. Before the check-up, we screened him and confirmed that Adam, just three years old, was suffering from moderate malnutrition.

We suggested to Rashawa that she and Adam start coming to our weekly cooking classes, open to all mothers in the camp. We provide practical advice on cooking nutritious meals for children. The cooking classes are just one of the preventative activities we provide here. Promoting healthcare is fundamental in a camp like Mayo, where health services aren’t guaranteed and people can’t easily access medical care.

‘I wasn’t sure which food here could be good for my child,’ Rashawa tells us, as she gets ready for her sixth class.

How can you cook a healthy meal in a camp in Sudan, home to hundreds of people who’ve fled war and poverty, live life on the edge, and often can’t even rely on having water to cook with?

We’re trying. And judging by the expression of the little boy as he eats, and his mother’s smile, our recipe is definitely working!

The Paediatric Centre in Mayo is co-funded by the Italian Agency for Develoment Cooperation and the European Union.