Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFB) representatives, Andy Harrington and Stefan Epp-Koop have returned back to Canada after their week on the other side of the globe to learn more about the dire situation in Sudan and South Sudan.
Civil war started in Sudan in April of 2023, and since then hundreds of thousands of people have fled south to the country of South Sudan. The situation is desperate, to say the least.
Returning back to Winnipeg Epp-Koop says its surreal. "It's hard to imagine that just a few days ago I was on the other side of the world talking to people who are dealing with significant suffering. It really is heartbreaking," he adds.
Epp-Koop is the Senior Humanitarian Manager for CFB and has been to multiple countries to learn, to share and to partner with organizations to help with food security, including Kenya, Somalia, Columbia, Zimbabwe and most recently South Sudan.
"There are two trips that I think that have stuck with me, and will stick with me for a long time," he shares, "this trip to South Sudan and the trip to Somalia where I was visiting a program treating acutely malnourished children. And in both cases incredibly high levels of desperation and hunger. I think both trips were those trips that really stick with you."
"I work on this a lot. I've heard stories like this before, but it doesn't make you immune to it," he adds. "And it shouldn't make you immune to it. I was debriefing some colleagues and just had to pause, realizing the enormity of the situation and how heartbreaking these stories were. It just hit me. You know, in the moment you're there and you put a professional face on, and you gather information and then actually coming home and sitting back and reflecting on it is really hard as well."
"Those emotions kick in, and these are people, and these are stories that I'll remember for a very long time," he adds.
Over half the population of Sudan (24.6 million people) are facing acute hunger since the outbreak of civil war in April 2023, and up to 640,000 people are already experiencing famine-like conditions in five identified areas. This crisis in Sudan and South Sudan have been deemed among the worst in the world as the civil war escalates to the point where South Sudan is also on the verge of civil war, thus exacerbating the extreme needs of both countries.
"I've had the chance to be in places like South Sudan to experience the situation and better understand what that situation is like," explains Epp-Koop. "It's a big driver for me when I come back here to Canada to do my best to make sure we can respond in situations like this. This is why I do the work that I do."
As CFB Senior Humanitarian Manager, Epp-Koop, says he looks at ways to approach situations like what they saw in South Sudan, ways that they build on the programming that they've done already. "I'm talking to people who are implementing the programming, understanding why they make decisions that they make and seeing what lessons we can pull from there to apply to other contexts that are similar."
"When I'm visiting these projects, I'm wanting to understand both the context that we're working in and to really get a good sense of that. But then also really understand what decisions the partner made to implement their projects and how we can learn from those decisions to inform programming in other places."
When asked how Canadians can help, he says learning, praying, giving and advocating are all important things that we can do to help the people who are living in these extremely dire situations.
Please listen to more with Stefan Epp-Koop below.
Please visit the Canadian Foodgrains Bank website for more on their projects around the world, and please click HERE for more on the needs in Sudan.
(Photo credit Canadian Foodgrains Bank Stefan Epp-Koop)