Volunteers Keep Khartoum Alive Amid Sudan War

Khartoum — As fighting between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces continues to devastate Khartoum, ordinary civilians have become the city’s main rescue network, delivering food, treating the wounded and burying the dead.

In Omdurman’s Al-Nao Educational Hospital, volunteers work as nurses, paramedics and pharmacists, often rushing to bomb sites to help victims.

Community kitchens known as “takkaya” provide free meals to families facing hunger, while local burial teams recover unidentified bodies and conduct funerals during ongoing shelling.

Many of these volunteers emerged from Sudan’s resistance committees, neighborhood groups that once led protests against former president Omar al-Bashir.

Despite reduced donations and constant danger, residents say they continue because basic survival in the war-torn capital depends on them.“We could leave tomorrow, but our country needs us,” one volunteer said.