Thousands of starving people in Sudan have benefited from a Food Bank project, set up and run by Muslim Aid.

There are several million people in Sudan who suffer from food shortages and are in a permanent state of hunger. The Food Bank was launched by Muslim Aid Sudan in partnership with Sudan's SEDCO Telecommunication Company, Sudan Airways, concerned food industries and a number of conscientious families.

"So many times, when you are eating meals, the temptation is to throw away the food that you can't finish," said Muslim Aid Sudan country director Dr.Zeidan Abdu Zeidan, who created the project. "The Food Bank was set up to ensure that this food is not wasted, and in fact reaches those starving people who are in need of food."

The precise number of people is unknown, but the inadequacy of official current support to meet their needs is clear. The increase in the poverty rate together with the increasing number of returnees after the peace settlement in Darfur presents new challenges towards the struggle for poverty alleviation.

"Extra meals and or part of meals, instead of being thrown away are donated to the programme in kind or cash," Dr Zeidan explained. "The collected meals are then reassessed, cooked and distributed to those in need. The project aims at providing continuous food supply to the poor, hungry families and individuals suffering from malnutrition."

Within just 10 weeks, more than £60,000 was raised, and more than 34,000 people benefited from the food distribution. Most of them were internally displaced people from South Darfur, and included street children, school children, elders and poor mothers.

This initiative is supported by the International and National Declaration of halving poverty by 2015.

(ENDS)

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