UPPER NILE – As intercommunal conflict spreads in troubled Upper Nile, a state in the world’s youngest nation, there are still silver linings amid these dark times.

One such ray of sunshine is a collective of women who call themselves ‘Mama Upper Nile.’

When you hear their moniker, the first thing that comes to mind is familiar, comforting smells wafting from your mother’s kitchen.

And if that’s what you thought, you would be right!

Mama Upper Nile is a collaborative effort by 10 women who decided that food was the way to economic stability.

With a little bit of help from friends at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), their dreams became a reality.

Regina Ali Oboi, a mother of seven, is one of the 10 women working in this cafeteria.

“The idea to pool our skills and start a business was one we all came up with together,” reveals Regina. “We raised our own capital and contacted the UNMISS Field Office in Malakal with our plan and they stepped up immediately.”

The UN Peacekeeping mission channeled its Welfare Unit and National Staff Association to mentor these enterprising women and in August this year, Mama Upper Nile officially opened its doors for appreciative UN staff within the mission’s premises in Malakal.

“We serve breakfast and lunch, because we all have families to get home to in the evening,” says Regina with a smile.

“We are now into our third month of rustling up tasty meals for our UN friends who have done so much for the people of Upper Nile. It’s gratifying, to say the least,” she adds.

Their menu includes local delicacies that, according to Regina, are bestsellers.

“We can’t fill plates fast enough. It’s wonderful to see people from all over the world appreciating South Sudanese cuisine. Our food is wholesome and healthy, plus our service, according to everybody, is impeccable,” she states proudly.

However, it’s been challenging for these entrepreneurs to get raw materials.

“We often have to buy commodities from Juba, the capital city, besides local produce from Malakal. We believe in serving food fresh, but the cost of shipping in items either by plane or boats is quite high,” explains Regina.

Despite the challenges, she’s optimistic about the business and highlights another significant dimension to this cafeteria – all the women working here are drawn from different communities in Upper Nile.

“We have suffered through civil war and now again our state is being torn apart by fighting between different communities. But all of us working in this cooperative, though we might come from varied ethnicities within the state, are like sisters. We give each other a hand up always,” she says passionately.

“We share similar concerns, and we want only one thing—for our children to have a bright and prosperous future. That dream can only come true if all South Sudanese unite and make enduring peace our motto.”

Regina’s colleague at the cafeteria Nyroud Yien, chimes in at this point: “All our men have once again become embroiled in conflict. We, women, have to be the breadwinners. So, the self-reliance that this project has given us is, for me, a feeling of freedom like I have never experienced before.”

Regina and her fellow cooks sustain their families on earnings from the cafeteria. They are all equal shareholders in the business. Through sheer grit and hard work, they have managed to pay off their initial loans which were taken to raise enough seed money to start this small eatery with a big heart.