Abdallah, 36, is a father of seven. His wife was killed in the war in Sudan as the family tried to flee the country. He arrived in Uganda in May 2025 and registered with his children as a refugee in Kiryandongo Settlement, about 240 kilometres from Kampala.
Abdallah builds a future for his family
Abdallah stayed at the Kiryandongo reception centre for two months before settling in Cluster A, where the Office of the Prime Minister allocated him a plot of land. As a newly arrived refugee, he also received food, essential household items and support to build a basic home. Kiryandongo Settlement currently hosts more than 160,000 refugees, mainly from South Sudan and Sudan.
In 2025, life was hard. Abdallah and his children relied on food assistance from the World Food Programme. His children struggled to go to school because he could not afford the costs, and easing into life in the settlement was difficult. Their shelter was basic, and they missed many of the comforts they had known in Sudan. With no lighting in the settlement, he and his children felt unsafe, especially at night.
Determined to provide for his family, Abdallah used his limited savings to start a small business in the settlement, selling tamiya (deep-fried bean cakes) and boiled eggs. But the income was not enough to meet his family's needs.
In early 2026, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Uganda identified Abdallah and trained him in business and financial management, including business selection, income management, financial planning, customer service, marketing and record-keeping. The training helped him strengthen his business and manage his income better. After the training, NRC gave him UGX 175,000 (around USD 45) which he used to expand his business and add new items to the menu, including kumunia and ful mashir.
Abdallah has also hired one refugee to help with cooking and serving customers, which gives him time to focus on other parts of the business. “I now get more customers because of the good customer care I provide,” he says. “The income has tripled in just four months.”
For Abdallah, the change goes beyond more income. He says the support has helped him to meet his family's basic needs and depend less on food assistance from the World Food Programme. The financial management training has also helped him manage his money with more discipline and he now plan how he spends it.
Abdallah plans to keep growing his business by adding a small seating area for customers and hiring more fellow Sudanese refugees.
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