News & Updates
Check out the latest from Sudan and our movement
Reflecting on 2023 and looking ahead
Read our annual review from our Executive Director and learn what lies ahead in 2024.
Made with Adobe Firefly. (Operation Broken Silence)
Friends and partners,
The last 12 months represent the most difficult time in Sudan’s modern history, but they’re also a testament to the unwavering determination of our Sudanese partners and dedication of our community. I am filled with gratitude as I meditate on what we accomplished together:
Childhood Education in Yida Refugee Camp. Attendance at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp climbed from almost 500 students daily to 720 by year’s end. Daily attendance at Renewal Secondary also surged nearly 70% to 437 students. And a record 43 out of the 45 students who took the Grade 8 national exam passed and are now enrolled at Renewal Secondary! A perfect score is 400 points and the five top-performing students were Yesmin Khamis Hassan (368.2), Makabula Peter Abdu (354.3), Amin Luke Nadir (353.4), Emmanuel Abdu Abdurahaman (352.5), and Sabri Andraws Junub (350). Congratulations!
Healthcare in the Nuba Mountains. The team at Mother of Mercy Hospital provided medical care to 72,000 people. This includes performing more than 2,200 surgeries and delivering 720 babies while supporting maternal recovery. The new 80-bed pediatric ward also opened and the staff doubled the number of community clinics they oversee from six to twelve. The dormitory for the hospital’s St. Bakhita Health Sciences Training Institute is now built and a second class of students (30 midwives) are already being trained.
Escape support and relief in southern Darfur. A seven-person team of Sudanese heroes helped roughly 1,900 refugees navigate targeted violence in Darfur, cross safely into South Sudan, and provided a limited amount of food and other basic necessities to those most in need. Many people who made contact with our rudimentary escape network said this was the only source of hope and help they had found since the war began in April. This brave operation was made possible in part by the wonderful generosity of our donors, who paid for fuel, food, and other materials that were used to help people find safe haven.
This is just a snapshot of what you helped our Sudanese partners accomplish in 2023. None of this would have been possible without your generous partnership! Thank you.
A Year Of Navigating Challenges
For those of you who read this annual letter, you know we don’t shy away from sharing areas that we found challenging. Despite the above wins, 2023 marked another difficult year for our mission.
The new war between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) imposed a number of security and resource challenges on all of our Sudanese partners. Even in areas where our work was not impacted directly by regime violence, prices on everything from pencils to basic medical supplies to fuel have skyrocketed.
Many of the Sudanese heroes we support did more with less as the year progressed and their purchasing power declined. Understandably, there was and is a lot of frustration at the situation imposed on them by Sudan’s now fractured regime. Much of the energy from this frustration and anger was redirected back into the work though and played an important role in saving and changing so many lives.
Outside of Sudan, the fundraising hurdles we’ve faced since 2020 remained entrenched. Three years of overblown fears of a major recession in the United States yet again failed to pan out, but this fear kept in place the overarching climate of wariness toward generosity. Many globally-minded donors remained focused on Ukraine and now the Israel/Palestine crisis. As Sudan is not in the news, the feedback we’ve received from a lot of potential supporters is that they don’t see Sudan as the gravest crisis in the world, despite all the data showing that it is. We did find some relief in inflation easing in the United States, leading to some of our longer-term supporters raising their level of generosity. This was an encouraging sign that this season we’ve been in will pass one day, even if we are unsure when.
Similar to our Sudanese partners, we faced these challenges head on as best we could. We more than tripled our outreach to potential new supporters. Membership in The Renewal monthly giving program was stable and grew slightly. We overhauled large portions of our website and messaging, which led to a slight uptick in the number of small dollar donations and new faces joining our movement. After a lot of hard work, our annual 5K finally returned to pre-pandemic fundraising levels and is poised for further growth.
Photo: Children playing after school in Yida Refugee Camp. (Operation Broken Silence)
Looking Ahead To 2024
Your collective determination has inspired us to continue adapting as we head into the new year. The war in Sudan will keep evolving, but there are no indications the violence will cease. There are also no signs that the fundraising hurdles we face will ease on their own. Based on what we learned this year, in 2024 we’ll navigate these challenges with three key principles in mind:
1. Educate, educate, educate. There has always been a sizable gap between the plight of the Sudanese people and what the American public knows. 2023 showed us that gap has widened to a catastrophic point. Few people know about events unfolding in Sudan and even fewer know enough to speak authoritatively about the crisis. This is one of the main reasons why the the Sudanese people have received scant attention. It also means we’re having to spend weeks, sometimes months, educating potential supporters before they’ll even consider getting involved.
In early 2024, we’ll be doing our part to help overcome this challenge by rolling out more robust educational resources. And throughout the year we’ll build out additional tools that anyone can use to help make some noise about Sudan.
2. Become more firmly rooted in the basics. We’ll stay focused on serving our Sudanese partners and supporters to the best of our ability one week and one month at a time. You’ll notice more communication from us in 2024 along with easier and more direct ways to help.
3. Go big on what works. In a similar vein, after three years of throwing new ideas at the wall to see what sticks, we now have a pretty good idea of what helps move our mission forward and what doesn’t. For example, we saw a lot of signs this year that our annual 5K can be a growth engine for our movement and Sudanese partners, so we’ll be leaning much harder into that event. The same with our monthly giving family, The Renewal. We’re a small nonprofit with limited resources, so pooling what we have into what works will be critical for our Sudanese partners and all of you in 2024.
As we stand on the cusp of a new year and the hope that comes with it, will you make one final gift to Operation Broken Silence?
$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.
$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.
$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.
$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.
$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
Other Ways To Give
Checks - Personal checks and grants from DAFs can be make payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Stocks and Mutual Funds - Use this giving form to donate stock. To give from a mutual fund, download our Investment Fund Transfer Form and follow the instructions. Please note that all stock and mutual fund donations are nonrefundable.
Cryptocurrency - Use this giving form to donate crypto. Please note that all crypto donations are nonrefundable.
Fundraise - Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give! These last few days of the year are the perfect time to fundraise.
Give Monthly - The Renewal is our passionate family of monthly givers supporting Sudanese heroes. Sign up here.
As we embark on a new year together, let us carry the lessons of 2023 with us and move forward with the same hope and determination our Sudanese partners have.
Thank you for standing with our friends in Sudan this year. On behalf of them, I wish you a joyous holiday season and a healthy New Year.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
Nuba Education Update - December 2023
Get the latest news from the Nuba teachers and students you support in Yida Refugee Camp!
In 2015, Operation Broken Silence began funding four Sudanese teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. They were giving lessons underneath a tree with a broken chalkboard. They had no textbooks, paper, pencils…nothing.
With your support, their small but brave effort has blossomed into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools. 24 Nuba teachers and a headmaster work here every day. They run the show, not us, and serve 1,157 students in their classrooms every week. Endure Primary is the top performing elementary school in the region and a treasured possession of the Nuba community. Renewal Secondary is the only fully-functioning high school in Yida. More than 10,000 children have been served by the school to date.
Operation Broken Silence is the only organization in the world supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp. Beyond these schools, we support Yida’s only other secondary school, a national exam preparation program for all primary students in Yida, and deliver a limited amount of classroom supplies to the eight other schools in the camp.
Nasrah’s Story
Nasrah was born in the Nuba Mountains. Her family arrived in Yida almost 9 years ago after the Sudanese government attacked their village. She barely remembers her home, saying:
“We did not have clean water or a school near to us at home. When the Antonov (regime plane) came and dropped bombs on us we ran and my mother brought us here to Yida.”
Humanitarian conditions in Yida were rapidly improving when they arrived. Nasrah’s mom was surprised to find clean water easily accessible and multiple schools for Nasrah and her brother.
“My mother still talks about how strange it is that life is usually easier here than it was for us at home. I know she wants to go back to our land, but she does not feel secure now that there is another war.”
Like most families in Yida, they hope to return one day to their homes in the Nuba Mountains. Until then Nasrah is enrolled at the Renewal Secondary School, which is funded entirely by people just like you. Her teachers and friends provide a sense of hope in this time of great upheaval in Sudan. She says:
“Yida is home because my people and family are here. My mother and her friends talk about how much Sudan needs new leaders who care about us. At school my teachers tell us we are the future leaders and that we can end the wars one day. I have learned to read and write from them and have good grades, but having teachers and people on the other side of the world who believe in me is what I will always carry with me from this place. Thank you for joining my people’s struggles. I don’t know what would have happened to us without our teachers and all of you who hear my voice.”
Recent Updates
Schools In Yida. It’s been a bittersweet year as refugee families once again begin trickling into Yida. Children displaced by the new war in Sudan have been warmly welcomed at the schools, but the reality of the world’s most dangerous armed conflict and worst humanitarian catastrophe weighs heavy on the hearts of everyone.
Thankfully, the teachers you support are uniquely positioned to help. Attendance at Endure Primary has climbed from almost 500 students daily before the war up to 720. Daily attendance has surged nearly 70% to 437 students at Renewal Secondary. Families continue trickling into Yida and are seeking to enroll their children at both schools. The teachers have informed us they still have some breathing room; but, if education needs keep climbing as we expect, both schools will likely be at maximum capacity by Summer 2024.
Photo: Renewal Secondary students celebrate their school achieving first place in national exams. (Operation Broken Silence)
Another round of national exams were conducted in August. Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary remained the top-performing schools in the region just as they have the past several years. And a record 43 out of the 45 students who took the Grade 8 national exam passed and are now enrolling at Renewal Secondary! A perfect score is 400 points and the five top-performing students were Yesmin Khamis Hassan (368.2), Makabula Peter Abdu (354.3), Amin Luke Nadir (353.4), Emmanuel Abdu Abdurahaman (352.5), and Sabri Andraws Junub (350). Congratulations!
Earlier this year, repairs and infrastructure upgrades were completed in most classrooms at both schools. This included more weatherproofing, new roofs and over 4,500 new bricks for replacement walls. Additional materials and backup tarps are also in storage for future repairs. This was made possible with some extra giving from our donors and is already paying dividends. With costs of most supplies skyrocketing from the war, these completed upgrades have kept classrooms in good shape at a time when extra financial support for this type of critical work is difficult to come by.
Photo: Children playing in Yida Refugee Camp at the end of a school day. (Operation Broken Silence)
Broader Education Support In Yida. Endure Primary School continues serving as the central national exam preparation facility for primary students in Yida. The camp’s eight other primary schools receive support and resources annually from our teachers for student test prep. This ancillary program positively impacted 1,458 additional students this year!
Vision Secondary, the only other high school in Yida, remains afloat with help from our teachers. The school was founded several years ago with pledges of support from outside nonprofits and churches, none of which materialized. This is one chapter in a long history of unfulfilled promises to the Nuba people that our education partner is having to mitigate. The teachers at Vision are all untrained, so a handful of the teachers at Renewal Secondary have stepped in to help teach science and provide guidance and crash course training.
Our Nuba education partner continues delivering a limited amount of basic supplies to Yida’s other primary schools, most of which operate with little to no outside support. Chalk, paper, pencils and notebooks remain the most requested items. These deliveries are critical to sustaining Yida’s already fragile education system, but are becoming more difficult to pull off due to rising prices brought on by the war.
We’re working with these incredible teachers to carry the mission forward, but we need your help.
How You Can Help
2023 has been a difficult and remarkable year in Sudan. Difficult in that the regime’s civil war has inflicted unprecedented death and destruction on the Sudanese people. Remarkable in that we’ve seen more bravery, love and grit in our Sudanese partners than ever before.
Funding for the schools remains an uphill battle due to rising costs from the war. The teachers are also receiving fewer donations due to internationally-minded donors moving their focus to the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine, despite the humanitarian crisis in Sudan being the worst in the world. The result is that our Nuba education partner is running on roughly 60% of the funding they need to provide a more holistic education experience for Sudan’s next generation of leaders.
The good news is that you can help them overcome these challenges. Your generosity will help our teachers and students make progress against the odds:
$2,200: Fund an entire classroom at Endure Primary for one semester.
$1,000: Support one teacher for an entire semester.
$750: Deliver three new chalkboards to classrooms.
$500: Give additional materials and extra pay to teachers who are working with students to prepare them for national exams.
$250: Provide for maintenance needs in classrooms.
$100: Give pencils, notebooks and other supplies to 16 students in Yida Refugee Camp.
$50: Give soccer balls and other sporting equipment to students.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
Other Ways To Give
Checks - Personal checks and grants from DAFs can be make payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Stocks and Mutual Funds - Use this giving form to donate stock. To give from a mutual fund, download our Investment Fund Transfer Form and follow the instructions. Please note that all stock and mutual fund donations are nonrefundable.
Cryptocurrency - Use this giving form to donate crypto. Please note that all crypto donations are nonrefundable.
Fundraise - Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give! These last few days of the year are the perfect time to fundraise.
Give Monthly - The Renewal is our passionate family of monthly givers supporting Sudanese heroes. Sign up here.
Darfur Escape Support & Relief Update - December 2023
Get the latest news from the Sudanese heroes who are saving lives in Darfur, which is being riven by war crimes.
Over the last six months, one of our private Sudanese partners has been assisting survivors as they flee the campaign of war crimes and genocide by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against ethnic African minorities in Darfur. This has been some of the most intense work we’ve seen over the last 12 years of laboring alongside Sudanese heroes. We are incredibly proud of the brave people who have worked around the clock —often at great personal risk— to help some of the most vulnerable escape safely into South Sudan.
We’d like to provide you with an important situation and programming update concerning this emergency work. Let’s start with the current situation in Darfur as a lot has shifted on the ground the past several weeks.
Situation Update
Sudan’s military regime disintegrated on April 15, 2023. The army and paramilitary RSF, the two primary groups in the regime, went to war with each for control of Sudan. Fighting has spread across the country, with millions of Sudanese caught in the crossfire and ethnic minorities facing famine, war crimes, and even genocide.
The long-oppressed western Darfur region has been hit hardest by this senseless conflict. A full-blown genocide of the Masalit ethnic minority in West Darfur by the RSF appears to be underway, with tribal leaders confirming that more than 12,000 of their people having already been exterminated. The death toll in West Darfur is actually far higher as thousands more remain missing and stories of massacres continue trickling out with the stream of traumatized survivors.
Over the past few months, the catastrophe in West Darfur has extended more fully to the rest of Darfur as the RSF and their local Arab allies fight to establish dominance over all of western Sudan. The army was focused on defending their bases in Darfur’s provincial capital cities, allowing the RSF to sweep through smaller towns and rural areas that —at best— only have poorly-armed local militias and oppressive police forces to defend them. Throughout the entirety of this war, the army has shown no interest in protecting civilians, even in areas of Darfur it controlled.
A multi-week, brutal offensive by the RSF against most army positions in Darfur concluded in late October with the state capitals of Nyala and Zalingei being overrun. Since then, tens of thousands of terrified citizens across Darfur have fled as the army withdrew its remaining forces from the region. Only North Darfur and the city of El Fasher remain under the control of the army. A major RSF offensive there seems inevitable.
The RSF’s soldiers have brought chaos and destruction with them into southern Darfur, where our Sudanese partner has been working around the clock to help people flee safely into South Sudan. Like most areas of RSF-controlled Sudan, security has collapsed in southern Darfur over the last several weeks.
Photo: Armed Salamat militia ride toward Habaniya territory. (Social Media)
The RSF, which is more or less a terrorist organization, has proven to be incapable of governing. This reality can be seen easily throughout southern Darfur. The paramilitary force’s targeted killings and threats of violence have led to tens of thousands of new refugees. RSF soldiers have pillaged markets and homes, arms trafficking and other illicit industries are flourishing, and complex local conflicts have again reignited as certain ethnic groups use the fog of war to settle old scores, sometimes with backing from the RSF.
To provide just one example of the latter, in mid-November our Sudanese partner reported that hundreds of armed militiamen belonging to the Salamat and Habaniya tribes were fighting each other near the South Sudan border. Local tribal disputes, including many peaceful ones, are common in Darfur; but, what caught their attention is that this specific armed conflict was between two Arab tribes. Tensions have run high for years between the Salamat and Habaniya —mostly over land— but this round of fighting began after army forces withdrew from the area a week earlier and the RSF took over.
A video taken by a Salamat fighter and posted to social media confirms the fighting, showing members of his tribe riding on horseback toward Habaniya villages as he says “The Habaniya will be annihilated. Go, go, readiness!” Go, go, readiness is a battle cry sometimes used by the RSF, suggesting the Salamat militia has ties to the paramilitary force.
The ethnic dimensions of the RSF’s war to control Darfur are harrowing enough —as is readily apparent in the West Darfur massacres— but the group’s willingness to take sides in Arab-Arab local conflicts is a grim reminder that no one is safe as long as the RSF exists. Where the RSF goes, death and destruction follows.
Tariq’s Story *
Tariq is from Zalingei in Darfur. The city’s displacement camps were home to people who belong to African ethnic groups targeted by the RSF. “Zalingei was my home even though it was not always easy. I was arrested once before and beaten by police,” he describes.
Tariq and two of his friends fled Zalingei when the war made staying impossible. “The janjaweed stole all of our belongings but we managed to escape,” he says. Janjaweed is a term used to describe the RSF and their Arab militia allies. They left the city on foot.
Their harrowing journey through the war toward the South Sudan border took 16 days. Tariq and his friends say the army did nothing to protect anyone.
Our Sudanese partner provided them ground transport in southern Darfur and helped them cross safely into South Sudan, giving them food when they arrived. Tariq and his friends are now safe in Juba. They do not plan on returning anytime soon since the RSF now control Zalingei.
“I hope to go home one day, but we cannot go back with the janjaweed breathing threats against us,” he says. “My friends are grateful to those who helped us get out. We would be dead without them. Please tell people everywhere to give so we can help more people. We can still save many lives but it takes money to do it.”
*Tariq’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
Photo: RSF bootprints outside of a village in southern Darfur. In the final weeks of their work, team members frequently had to navigate areas that the RSF had a growing presence in. (Operation Broken Silence)
Program Update
During the past six months, our Sudanese partner’s seven person team has helped roughly 1,900 refugees fleeing RSF violence navigate parts of Central, South, and East Darfur, cross safely into South Sudan, and provided a limited amount of food and other basic necessities to those most in need.
This work has taken on a variety of creative forms, ranging from moving people on a large truck to guiding those fleeing on foot to safer routes that led to the South Sudan border. Most highways and major roads in Darfur are now overrun by the RSF and their Arab militia allies, making any travel harrowing for those belonging to targeted ethnic groups.
Many people who made contact with our rudimentary escape network said this was the only source of hope and help they had found since the war began in April. Some reported seeing RSF soldiers and their local Arab allies executing unarmed black civilians, including male babies and male children. These accounts match recent, horrifying public reporting on Arab fighters “hunting” for boys belonging to African tribal groups elsewhere in Darfur.
In November, our Sudanese partner informed us that spiraling security conditions had made continuing this program untenable. Despite often being in or near areas with a growing RSF presence, not a single member of the team was harmed or killed during this lifesaving work. The last team member crossed into South Sudan at the beginning of December, effectively bringing this escape assistance work to an end. We are now shifting to more basic humanitarian activities (food, clothing, shelter, etc.) for over 400 Darfuri refugees who have traveled all the way to Juba, South Sudan.
At their request, we aren’t releasing the names of team members or any information that can identify them. They hope to continue working in Darfur one day and their anonymity will be required to do so.
This brave and successful operation was made possible in part by the wonderful generosity of our donors, who paid for fuel, food, and other materials that were used to help people reach safety in South Sudan. Without your generous support, it is likely that some of the 1,900 people you helped would not have made it. We can’t thank you enough for your support. People are alive today because of you.
How You Can Help
2023 has been a difficult and remarkable year in Sudan. Difficult in that the regime’s civil war has inflicted unprecedented death and destruction on the Sudanese people. Remarkable in that we’ve seen more bravery, love, and grit in our Sudanese partners than ever before.
Funding for all of our programs remains an uphill battle due to rising costs from the war. Our Sudanese partners are also receiving fewer donations as internationally-minded donors focus on the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine, despite the humanitarian crisis in Sudan being the worst in the world. The result is that there are currently no funds available to help the more than 400 Darfuri refugees in Juba.
The good news is that you can help. Your generosity will bring food, medicine, clothing, and more to these people in their time of greatest need:
$1,000: Gives culturally-respective, quality clothing to women in need.
$750: Delivers most basic foodstuffs needed for communal meals during cultural celebrations.
$500: Provides a daily nutritious meal to 35 children for an entire month.
$250: Gives basic medicines to the refugee community for two months.
$100: Feeds two families for one month.
$50: Feeds a family for one month.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
Other Ways To Give
Checks - Personal checks and grants from DAFs can be make payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Stocks and Mutual Funds - Use this giving form to donate stock. To give from a mutual fund, download our Investment Fund Transfer Form and follow the instructions. Please note that all stock and mutual fund donations are nonrefundable.
Cryptocurrency - Use this giving form to donate crypto. Please note that all crypto donations are nonrefundable.
Fundraise - Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give! These last few days of the year are the perfect time to fundraise.
Give Monthly - The Renewal is our passionate family of monthly givers supporting Sudanese heroes. Sign up here.
Make your last gift of 2023
We’re hoping to send another round of emergency funding to our Sudanese partners before year’s end. Your gift can help make that happen.
Friends and supporters,
It has been both a difficult and remarkable year in Sudan. Difficult in that the regime’s civil war has inflicted unprecedented death and destruction on the Sudanese people. Remarkable in that we’ve seen more bravery, love, and grit in our Sudanese partners than ever before.
Giving deadlines are below, but we encourage you to make your final gift of 2023 now. We need to send another round of emergency funding to our Sudanese partners in early January. Your gift can help make that happen and is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.
$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.
$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.
$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.
$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.
Giving Season Deadlines
For gifts to count toward the 2023 tax year:
Online Donations - Sunday, Dec 31
Checks - Dated & postmarked by Friday, Dec 29. Make payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Donor-Advised Funds - Ask your DAF manager for grant submission cutoff times. It usually takes several days for DAFs to process grants. We recommend submitting your donation now.
Stocks & Mutual Funds - Must be processed by close of markets on Friday, Dec 29. To give from a mutual fund, download our Investment Fund Transfer Form and follow the instructions. Please note that all stock and mutual fund donations are nonrefundable.
Cryptocurrency - Must be processed by midnight on Sunday, Dec 31. Blockchain processing times vary, so we encourage you to donate by December 30 to ensure adequate time for your gift to process. Please note that all crypto donations are nonrefundable.
Have a question before giving? Shoot us a message here and we’ll be in touch soon. With your generous support, we can help our Sudanese partners continue saving and change lives for the better.
