Stories
August 21, 2026 • 2 min read
When conflict forced Jamela Abdalla Mohammed and her family from their home, they settled in Kassab Camp in North Darfur, where daily survival meant borrowing money, selling belongings, and going without food. A cash grant from GOAL, funded by EU gave her the means to buy a donkey and a small flock of chickens, turning a one-off payment into a lasting source of income. Within months, her family was eating better, paying off debts, and keeping their children in school.
Jamela Abdalla Mohammed is 39 years old and lives with her family of six in Hujair Village, part of Kassab Camp in North Darfur, Sudan. Like many families displaced by conflict, they had little means of earning a stable income and relied on humanitarian assistance to get by.
With EU funding, GOAL provides Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance to displaced families in the camp, giving them cash rather than pre-set goods or vouchers so they can decide what their households need most. For Jamela’s family, that flexibility made a lasting difference.
“Before receiving support from GOAL, my family struggled to cover even our most basic needs. Food was often scarce, and the cost of healthcare and school fees put even more pressure on our already stretched household. To get through each month, we borrowed money, sold the few possessions we had, and sometimes went without meals altogether,” Jamela shared.
Turning support into opportunity
When Jamela received her first round of cash assistance, she chose to invest rather than spend it all on immediate needs. She bought a donkey, which she used to collect firewood and grass to sell at the local market, and engaged in other income generating activities creating a small but steady income. She also bought chickens and built a modest shelter for them, adding egg production as a second source of food and earnings for the household.
With additional rounds of assistance, Jamela was able to buy food, access healthcare, cover her children’s education costs, and repay the debts her family had built up over time.
A more stable future
The change in Jamela’s household has been significant. Her family now has more reliable access to food, and the constant worry over how to make ends meet has eased. Just as importantly, they no longer need to rely on the coping strategies that once threatened their wellbeing skipping meals, borrowing money, selling essential belongings, or relying on their children’s labor to get by.
“Since receiving the assistance, my family has been able to access food and other essentials more easily, and for the first time, we have even been able to put a little money aside. The biggest difference for me is that I no longer have to make the difficult choices I once faced just to get through the week,” Jamela said.
For displaced families, cash assistance gives flexibility to decide how best to use the support. Especially for Jemela, that choice has gone beyond meeting immediate needs: it has enabled her to build a small, sustainable livelihood that is helping her family regain financial stability and greater control over their future.
