Adré Children’s Feeding Program and Clinic Update - April 2025
Program Background
When war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, Darfur quickly became the epicenter of some of the worst atrocities in modern history. What began as a battle for power between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spiraled into a brutal, targeted campaign of violence. The largely Arab RSF launched a hate-fueled assault against Darfur’s historic ethnic African communities, including the Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit.
Map by Operation Broken Silence.
Between April and June 2023 alone, up to 15,000 Masalit civilians were systematically massacred by the RSF in West Darfur. By early November 2023, the RSF had overrun most of Darfur, seizing nearly every major city and cornering army units in the Greater El Fasher area. What’s followed is a nightmare.
Parts of Darfur are now in famine. Refugees arriving in Chad speak of mass killings, starvation deaths, and unimaginable loss and suffering. Many arrive in Adré with empty stomachs and thousand-yard stares. Under RSF occupation, Darfur has become a place of ongoing ethnic cleansing, widespread rape, and total lawlessness. Markets, farms, banks, and aid warehouses have been looted or destroyed. Many survivors have fled across the border into Adré, eastern Chad.
In response, Operation Broken Silence is helping provide emergency food and medical care to some of the most at-risk displaced and refugee communities. We’re supporting trusted local leaders in two key areas:
The Adré Refugee Camps in eastern Chad
The Greater El Fasher Area in North Darfur
We have some important updates below concerning the past few weeks at the Children’s Feeding Center and Healthcare Clinic we are helping to support in Adré. Both of these institutions are entirely privately funded and led by refugee leaders themselves.
For You Children’s Feeding Center
After a short pause during Ramadan, the Child Feeding Center has resumed operations, serving more than 2,300 nutritious meals to children and vulnerable patients over the past two weeks. The impact was immediate—children returned eagerly, some smiling for the first time in days. For many, these meals are their only reliable source of nourishment.
Photos: Life at the Children’s Feeding Center in Adré
For You Healthcare Clinic
Against the backdrop of displacement, hunger, and disease, the For You Clinic in Adré continues to be a lifeline. Each week, their dedicated medical and administrative teams work with incredible discipline and compassion to deliver lifesaving care to Sudanese refugees—despite limited resources and overwhelming demand. Here’s a snapshot of life in the clinic over the past two weeks:
General Medical Care
More than 1,340 patients received treatment. Respiratory infections—driven by dust storms and overcrowded conditions—remain the most common illness, followed by gastrointestinal infections, malaria, and urinary tract issues. These health trends reflect worsening camp conditions and the growing urgency for clean water, proper sanitation, and nutrition support.
Chronic Disease Support
The clinic served over 215 patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. These patients received essential medications, monitoring, and ongoing support to help manage their conditions—an often-overlooked need in emergency settings.
Women’s Health Services
The Obstetrics and Gynecology unit provided personalized care to 40 women. Services ranged from prenatal consultations to treatment for infections, filling a critical gap in a population where women’s health is especially vulnerable.
Emergency and Minor Procedures
The Emergency Department handled 60 urgent cases, including severe malaria and low blood pressure. Meanwhile, the nursing team treated 166 patients, delivering wound care, administering medicines, and performing minor procedures—all with a deep sense of urgency and care.
Health Education & Awareness
The Awareness and Counseling Department continues to be a crucial pillar of the clinic. Volunteer staff held hundreds of individual and group sessions, focusing on:
Maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy
Childhood vaccinations and disease prevention
Managing chronic conditions
Personal hygiene and infection prevention
Giardiasis awareness and prevention
Giardiasis—a gastrointestinal illness caused by contaminated water—is on the rise in the camps. In response, the team launched a new awareness campaign to educate families on how to protect themselves and their children.
Photos: Life at the Clinic in Adré
Current conditions in the Adré camps
What began as a desperate escape from West Darfur is now a protracted humanitarian emergency. Sudanese refugees fleeing war, ethnic cleansing, and famine in Darfur face new threats like hunger, disease, and instability in eastern Chad. Women and children especially are still arriving at over 30 informal border crossings, many having walked for days carrying only what they could, including mothers and children weakened by hunger and trauma. The scale of the crisis is staggering:
The number of Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad has surged to nearly 780,000 people.
Over 230,000 refugees are currently settled in the Adré area, more than five times the town’s original population.
87% of those registered are women and children.
13% have specific needs, including people with disabilities, chronic illness, or those who are unaccompanied.
The Chadian government and United Nations estimate that by the end of 2025, the total number of refugees and returnees across Chad could approach one million people.
Local infrastructure was never designed to support this size population with this many unique needs. Resources are stretched thin and access to safe drinking water is limited. While some refugees have been relocated to more organized settlements, many remain in overcrowded and under-resourced sites. Beyond immediate requirements for food, water, and medical care, there is an urgent need for shelter, as many refugees live in makeshift structures vulnerable to the elements and more are still arriving
With regard to safety, while it is much more secure here than RSF-controlled areas of Darfur, many of the refugees feel vulnerable. Adré sits just a few miles inside Chad’s porous border with Sudan and, while the Chadian government has troops monitoring parts of the border, RSF fighters can still easily slip into the country. Small numbers of RSF fighters have been spotted in eastern Chad, and some refugees have even received death threats from the paramilitaries.
These heroes need your help
The needs in Adré are urgent and growing by the day. Right now, it takes a minimum of $8,500 each month to keep the For You Child Feeding Center & Clinic running at current capacity. This covers everything from medical supplies and staff support to hot meals for vulnerable children to medication for patients that couldn’t afford it otherwise.
With more support, these programs can expand to reach even more people in need. Thousands are still waiting for care. Countless children go to bed hungry every night. You can help change that. In a place where hope is in short supply, your generosity means more to these people than you can imagine.
$8,500: fully fund the Feeding Center and Clinic for an entire month
$4,000: support the children's feeding program for one month
$1,000: provide one week of all basic medicines needed at the clinic
$500: feed 500 hungry children for one week
$250: help expand the children's feed program
$100: deliver nutritional supplements that help fight malnutrition
$50: deliver anti-malarial, typhus and other speciality medications
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Operation Broken Silence a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Our EIN is 80-0671198.
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When war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, Darfur quickly became the epicenter of some of the worst atrocities in modern history. Refugees arriving in Chad speak in hushed voices of mass killings, starvation deaths, and unimaginable loss and suffering. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/adre-childrens-feeding-program-and-clinic-update-april-2025
Over 230,000 Sudanese refugees have fled into Adré, eastern Chad. Most are women and children. A small clinic and feeding center are saving lives—but they need your help to keep going. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/adre-childrens-feeding-program-and-clinic-update-april-2025
From wound care and emergency treatment to 1,100+ meals served in a single week—our partners on the ground in Adré are doing incredible work. But the need is growing. Help us keep the clinic and feeding center open. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/adre-childrens-feeding-program-and-clinic-update-april-2025
What does hope look like in a refugee camp? It looks like a child receiving her only hot meal of the day. A mother being treated for malaria. A community standing together. Help us keep that hope alive. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/adre-childrens-feeding-program-and-clinic-update-april-2025
