Running Nairobi Marathon to Raise Food Money for Bahiri!

Hi my name is Ahmed Kaballo, I am a British-Sud*nese citizen living in Nairobi, Kenya. I am running the Nairobi Marathon to raise money for homeland Sudan.

The war between the Sud*nese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been raging for over 13 months now. It has been devastating as part of the Sud*nese diaspora to watch our beloved country burn to the ground and our people be killed, tortured, r*ped and starved to death. The humanitarian crises and widespread atrocities have resulted in over 10 million people displaced, making S*dan the most significant displacement crisis globally, with an additional 3 million people homeless due to previous conflicts, mainly in Darfur. Close to 25 million Sud*nese are now in need of humanitarian assistance – including an estimated 5 million facing severe levels of hunger.

My family is from Hillat Khogali, a village in Bahiri, a city in Khartoum State, lying to the north of Khartoum city, the capital of Sud*n. It is under UAE-Backed Rapid Support Forces control, and they have been terrorising our village for the last 13 months. For eight months of those 13 months, my father was in the town, seeing the crimes of RSF firsthand. They ransacked our home, beat him up and stole his car at gunpoint. But my father is one of the lucky ones as he has left Sud*n and is now in Birmingham, UK, with my mum, sister and niece. However, our neighbours and friends from Hillat Khogali are not so lucky. They are stuck in Hillat Khogali with little money and even less food. So, we are trying to raise some money to support them and provide nearby villages with much-needed resources.

I am running the Nairobi Marathon on the 7th of July to raise awareness and money. I am teaming up with the Khartoum North Emergency Committee, which is already providing families with food parcels and medical supplies with very little money. They are fantastic but need more support to help communities across five areas: Hillat Khogali, Dangala South, Danagla North, Shambat and Sababi. All of these villages are in Khartoum North (Bahiri).

I am told £50 can provide one meal for nine families, which means if we raise £1000, we can provide a meal for 180 families, and £2000 would be 360 families. Of course, one meal is not enough, and we plan to give the money directly to the Khartoum North Emergency Committee and let them distribute how they see fit, either medical supplies or food, depending on the needs of the five communities.

We will be sending the money to local accounts in Sud*n who are working with Khartoum North Emergency Committee. For sake of transparency. We will take pictures of items purchased while attempting to protect the anonymity of those distributing the items in RSF controlled areas for safety reasons.