Gedaref, Sudan — 'We shared everything, and we became like one family.'
With only two bedrooms, a hallway, and a single bathroom, 47-year-old Karar's humble home in the town of Gedaref, in southeastern Sudan, can be crowded at the best of times.
Yet limited space hasn't stopped Karar from opening his door to 40 people across six families, all driven from their homes by the still-expanding war that has gutted Sudan's cities and produced the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.
"We feel that any person in Sudan can go through this humiliation, so solidarity is our duty in order to relieve each other," Karar told The New Humanitarian, asking for only his first name to be used. "I continue to host, and I cannot abandon them."
Over 10 million Sudanese, roughly 20% of the population, have been uprooted since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army began fighting in April 2023. Almost eight million have been internally displaced and the rest have fled abroad.
A large proportion of the internally displaced people are not staying in camps or informal settlements but with host families, little-heralded frontline humanitarian responders who are sharing everything they have with friends, family, and strangers.
Host families interviewed by The New Humanitarian said they are sheltering people out of a sense of comradeship, and because of a desire to help ameliorate the vast humanitarian disaster and famine that now threatens millions of lives.
Some hosts said they have developed deep and meaningful relationships with their guests, who often seek to contribute to the costs of living through sharing family remittances or by finding local jobs and helping with housekeeping.
Others expressed frustration that they cannot provide more to their guests and said the financial strain of hosting has been severe, especially as they are suffering economically because of the war.
Hosts said new groups of displaced people have been arriving in recent months as the RSF expands its territories from west to east. They fear that their places of refuge will soon be on the front lines, and that they will need accommodating themselves.
Hosts also questioned why they have received insufficient humanitarian assistance from international relief organisations and the UN's aid agencies.
Sibongani Kayola, the country director in Sudan for the American NGO Mercy Corps, said it is difficult for aid groups to assist displaced people and host families at the same level given how low funding currently is for humanitarian groups in Sudan.
"In a perfect world, it would be about delivering blanket assistance and not making a distinction between host and internally displaced people. But we are confronted by resource constraints," Kayola said.
"Host families are shouldering a really heavy load because, for many of them, income has dropped significantly or evaporated over the past year. The additional responsibility of hosting displaced people places additional strain [on them]."
Deep motivation: 'There is love and peace in this work'
Sudanese communities have shouldered the burden of the humanitarian response over the past year, forming mutual aid groups that draw from a rich heritage of social solidarity, best represented in the local tradition of nafeer ("a call to mobilise").
Grassroots groups have set up community kitchens, alternative education programmes, and women's cooperatives that are serving millions of people in conflict-affected areas that international aid agencies have failed to consistently access.
Host families have meanwhile opened their doors to just over 50% of displaced households, according to the International Organization for Migration. The rest are in camps, public buildings, informal settlements, and in privately rented houses.
Karar from Gedaref said his family first started hosting displaced people in December, when the RSF took control of Al-Jazirah state, which is just south of Khartoum, the besieged capital city.
Most families in Gedaref are now hosting displaced people, Karar said, adding that more people are arriving in the town every day, escaping Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, and adjoining Sennar state, which was invaded by the RSF last month.
Karar said he is "very happy" as a host because his guests have integrated well, helping out with chores and sharing expenses. "These families have even begun to receive support from their children abroad and are contributing to the costs of living," he said.
Thirty-year-old Khaled, who is also from Gedaref, said residents from his neighbourhood who do not have displaced people in their homes have been collecting money and purchasing goods to distribute to host families.
Khaled said he is currently hosting 27 people in his three-bedroom house. He said he has seen several different families come and go over the past year, with some resting up before travelling abroad.
"The main motivation for hosting these families is that we consider this our contribution to alleviating the burden on the displaced," Khaled said. "We feel satisfied as a result of this, to the point that most of the families came to us at our request."
Samar Saeed, who lives in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan - the de facto capital after the RSF took over much of Khartoum - said his charitably minded father decided to take in displaced people at the outset of the conflict.
Saeed said the work of hosting has become gradually less exhausting as his guests have started chipping in with household work. One guest even took a job in Port Sudan and has been providing support to Saeed and to other host families.
"Everyone began to participate together until we became one family," Saeed told The New Humanitarian. "This is a great motivation for us to continue this humanitarian work."
Financial struggles and insufficient aid: 'We feel as if we are negligent'
Despite cultivating positive and meaningful relationships with their guests, the hosts all said they are facing significant financial challenges that restrict their ability to assist their guests.
Saeed said his family had depleted all of the contingency savings they had built in case they ever faced their own disaster; money he had saved to buy a car was spent on building extra rooms in the house to accommodate people.
The resources of host families in Port Sudan, Saeed's hometown, have also been exhausted by a general economic slowdown, he said, adding: "Most of the people in Port Sudan are port workers, and due to the war, business slowed dramatically."
Khaled from Gedaref said some of his family haven't been going to work because they need to stay at home to prepare food, and to act as guides to the local area for their guests.
Khaled said his family's financial struggles mean they are buying poorer quality food. He said guests sometimes have to buy things for themselves, which leaves the hosts feeling "as if we are negligent in performing our duty towards them".
"Recently, we ran out of stock," Khaled said. "We were living in an abnormal state of pressure because all day long we were thinking about what food we could give them, in addition to feeling sad about the psychological state these people were going through."
Karar said some hosts in Gedaref have received humanitarian support from the Sudanese Red Crescent and local authorities, but not nearly enough. He said people in Sudan "are being wiped out" while "no one is looking".
"I believe that the United Nations and the international community are completely negligent towards our rights, and in a racist manner," said Karar. "I see one reason for this: It is because we are Africans that we are ignored in this way."
According to the UN's online humanitarian funding tracker, at the time of publication, international donors had provided just 31.3% of the $2.7 billion requested by aid groups in Sudan for 2024. Key sectors including health and nutrition are under 10% funded.
The lack of funding contrasts starkly to the huge needs on the ground: One recent study has predicted 2.5 million starvation deaths by September, while others are warning of the world's worst famine in 40 years.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
A guest's perspective
Guests are also facing financial struggles that can create deep discomfort, said Munira Ali, a 27-year-old displaced lawyer who left Omdurman, a city adjacent to Khartoum, late last year.
Ali said her family temporarily moved into their cousin's house in the northern town of Shendi. The cousin - a mobile phone repairman - was also hosting two other families at the same time, despite having only two bedrooms.
"One of the most painful situations that I went through was that I never before saw my father in this state of helplessness," Ali said. "He was unable to provide any assistance to that family."
Ali said she is grateful to her cousin, and to another family that is currently hosting her in Port Sudan. "During this period, sweet relationships were formed with people we did not know," she said. "We shared everything, and we became like one family."
Still, Ali said privacy has been an issue in both locations due to a lack of space, and she has also had to adapt to different cultural and social attitudes and expectations among the hosts and fellow guests.
Despite these challenges, a return to Omdurman is not on the cards, Ali said. In recent weeks, she said her neighbour died of hunger, a volunteer-run soup kitchen closed down because of fighting, and the streets around her house have filled with corpses.
Karar from Gedaref, said his fear is that the RSF invades their area as it pushes eastwards, turning host families into displaced people who will then have to depend on yet more people for assistance.
Khaled, also from Gedaref, called on the international community to put more pressure on the warring parties to stop the conflict so people can return to their homes: "My message to the army and the Rapid Support Forces is that they hear the voice of reason, put citizens as a priority in their programmes, and stop violations against them."
Edited by - and with additional reporting from - Philip Kleinfeld.
Hafiz Haroun, Investigative journalist working with Ayin Media
