The aid worker: Denis Drichi
Denis Drichi is an Emergency Coordinator for Welthungerhilfe in Sudan. He spoke to journalist Jan Rübel about the humanitarian crisis in the country and his often challenging work on the ground.
The journey is still taking its toll on him when Denis Drichi gets in touch via a WhatsApp call from his home in Kampala. “I was away longer than planned,” he says, “my three-year-old child had already asked my wife if she didn’t want me at home.”
It was more a case of him being needed elsewhere. Drichi, Emergency Coordinator for Welthungerhilfe in Sudan, needed two days by car – ten to eleven hours’ driving each way – to travel from North Darfur back to Chad and then fly to Uganda for a family holiday. “There are no flights to or from the North Darfur region,” he says. The emergency aid worker coordinates and plans Welthungerhilfe’s relief efforts in the war-torn country.
I always have to bear in mind that nothing must happen to my health – there’s almost no emergency medical care on the ground, and an evacuation simply takes two days by pick-up truck.
Denis Drichi Emergency Coordinator for Welthungerhilfe in SudanLarge parts of North Darfur are currently controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which is fighting the Sudanese military government for territorial control in the country. The result: over 9 million people are internally displaced, having fled the conflict, and are staying in camps where basic services have collapsed. Hunger is rife. And right in the middle of it all is Drichi, who has to (must) get an overview of where emergency aid should be sent – if it can be sent at all.
“The situation changes every day,” he says. Sometimes one road is impassable, sometimes another region is too dangerous for foreign aid workers. “We aid workers keep each other informed via a platform, but there’s never any certainty.”
But when he does arrive – for example, at a camp where hundreds of thousands of people have set up a makeshift refuge – he realises why he does this job.
People have lost everything; they arrive with almost no belongings. Some haven’t received any aid since February.
Denis Drichi Emergency Coordinator for Welthungerhilfe in SudanYet they no longer have access to their farmland, and their herds have been scattered. They have cobbled together makeshift shelters from straw and sticks, using old clothes as a roof. But none of this holds up during the rainy season. Drichi isn’t talking about one or two days in such conditions, for a few people, but rather about a permanent state of affairs (situation) for up to 700,000 people in the Tawila region, which he has only just managed to leave behind.
“Fires often break out when the wind blows sparks away from cooking areas,” he says. Welthungerhilfe has brought in a water tank, which is refilled with clean water on a frequent basis. Staff provide information on hygiene practices to prevent the outbreak of disease. They supply blankets, cooking utensils and sleeping mats. And they focus on examining children, women and the elderly who are particularly malnourished – to refer them to the United Nations World Food Programme’s emergency aid to ensure that they receive support. “It’s all far too little and a drop in the ocean. But it helps.”
“For us, cups are simply cups, and plates are plates. But for the people there, they’re lifesavers.” The local people are full of ideas, “with a little assistance, they can solve their basic survival problems. We must listen to them. And then take action.”
This profile piece by Jan Rübel first appeared in Das Parlament on 8 August 2026.
