Story
22 June 2026
The women who opened a restaurant in South Sudan’s largest camp
The group, comprising 57 women, meets biweekly to discuss problems in the camp, propose solutions and plan community activities, such as annual events in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.During her tenure, Theresa represented the women’s group in the State Task Force on Durable Solutions which brought together government authorities, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). There, she voiced not only the collective concerns of women in the camp but also their perspectives and grassroots ideas for improving living conditions and advancing durable solutions.
In 2024, the group pitched the idea of opening a restaurant in the camp to sell affordable home-cooked meals to its residents. By October 2025, this idea became a reality, run and managed by the Women Forum, with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which constructed the facility, providing cooking materials, kitchen sets and initial ingredients to kick off its opening.
“The opening of this restaurant has been my proudest moment. We get around 50 customers per day and many more during the weekends,” said Theresa, who continues to work there to this day, supervising other cooks.The restaurant is open daily from 8 am to 7 pm with a changing menu that commonly features rice, beans, fish and other local dishes. The women use the earnings to buy ingredients, helping to sustain the business. For Theresa, who has lived in the camp since 2014, the restaurant offers more than just a reliable source of affordable food, particularly during the rainy season when roads become flooded and access to markets is more difficult. In her words, it provides a "beacon of hope for the community."
Theresa first fled to the Bentiu IDP Camp with her five children. Today, she shares her tented home with three of them, its walls lined with brightly patterned fabric, topped by a straw roof. Like many communities across South Sudan, Theresa and other residents of the Bentiu IDP camp are feeling the effects of declining humanitarian funding, even as needs remain high.When asked about conditions in the camp, she shared: “A lot has changed and not for the better. We are receiving less assistance. Water and sanitation services have severely declined compared to two years ago and more people are resorting to open defecation because of poor conditions in the latrines.”
Given the deteriorating sanitation conditions, Theresa is particularly concerned about the ongoing cholera outbreak. Earlier this May, suspected cholera cases in Unity State surpassed the alert threshold with most cases reported in the IDP camp. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cholera outbreak, which was formally declared in October 2024, has reached 103,956 cases and 1,673 deaths across South Sudan, as of 22 May.
Despite these challenges, Theresa remains hopeful: "When life gets difficult, one should not stop working. My thoughts are now on how to expand the restaurant given that I have passed the baton as Chairwoman of the Women Forum.”
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Story by Madevi Sun-Suon from the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in South Sudan (originally published in the South Sudan Nexus Digest - Issue #1)
In 2024, the group pitched the idea of opening a restaurant in the camp to sell affordable home-cooked meals to its residents. By October 2025, this idea became a reality, run and managed by the Women Forum, with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which constructed the facility, providing cooking materials, kitchen sets and initial ingredients to kick off its opening.
“The opening of this restaurant has been my proudest moment. We get around 50 customers per day and many more during the weekends,” said Theresa, who continues to work there to this day, supervising other cooks.The restaurant is open daily from 8 am to 7 pm with a changing menu that commonly features rice, beans, fish and other local dishes. The women use the earnings to buy ingredients, helping to sustain the business. For Theresa, who has lived in the camp since 2014, the restaurant offers more than just a reliable source of affordable food, particularly during the rainy season when roads become flooded and access to markets is more difficult. In her words, it provides a "beacon of hope for the community."
Theresa first fled to the Bentiu IDP Camp with her five children. Today, she shares her tented home with three of them, its walls lined with brightly patterned fabric, topped by a straw roof. Like many communities across South Sudan, Theresa and other residents of the Bentiu IDP camp are feeling the effects of declining humanitarian funding, even as needs remain high.When asked about conditions in the camp, she shared: “A lot has changed and not for the better. We are receiving less assistance. Water and sanitation services have severely declined compared to two years ago and more people are resorting to open defecation because of poor conditions in the latrines.”
Given the deteriorating sanitation conditions, Theresa is particularly concerned about the ongoing cholera outbreak. Earlier this May, suspected cholera cases in Unity State surpassed the alert threshold with most cases reported in the IDP camp. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cholera outbreak, which was formally declared in October 2024, has reached 103,956 cases and 1,673 deaths across South Sudan, as of 22 May.
Despite these challenges, Theresa remains hopeful: "When life gets difficult, one should not stop working. My thoughts are now on how to expand the restaurant given that I have passed the baton as Chairwoman of the Women Forum.”
***
Story by Madevi Sun-Suon from the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in South Sudan (originally published in the South Sudan Nexus Digest - Issue #1)
