Drought and famine hit East Africa

News of drought and famine in East Africa is once more hitting our TV screens. As we head into 2010, UNICEF estimates that 6 million children under the age of five in Ethiopia alone are at risk and that more than 120,000 have only about a month to live without food aid.Time is of the essence!

Anticipated rains across East Africa have been a near failure and the emergency is deepening due to critical food and water shortage. The situation is expected to deteriorate throughout the remainder of the coming year as household food security further decreases. The reality on the ground is that children under five are the first to be affected. 

As you read this, Simon Barrington, Executive Director of Samaritan’s Purse, is  en-route to  Ethiopia and we will be regularly updating our website with news and stories from his visit. Before he left, Simon explained his motivation to reach out to these children and families in need:

“My mind is full of memories of the awful images from 1984 - millions of children starving as the country was hit by drought and famine. As this news once more reaches us it outrages me to think of children going hungry in a world where we have so much food.”

Our response in Ethiopia
Already the Samaritan’s Purse office in Ethiopia is working to help nearly 600,000 people in two of the worst-affected regions by providing clean water, emergency feeding and healthcare. Our team is ready to expand and respond to the situation and with your help our trained staff can access large quantities of food and distribute to the most severely affected areas of Ethiopia. We need to act now!

The feeding program in Ethiopia includes providing a peanut butter based food called Plumpy Nut to thousands of severely malnourished children. The nutrition project also provides targeted feeding for malnourished families by providing grain, oil, and beans. Right now we have the finances to reach 600,000 people, but so much more is needed. 

In addition, our water project is currently operating in Southern Ethiopia, amidst two hotspots for severe acute malnutrition. Providing clean water to communities is even more essential at this time as access to clean water reduces diarrheal diseases, which are often fatal for small children who are weakened by a lack of food.

Our response in Kenya
In the Western region of Kenya, our Samaritan’s Purse office is also reporting similar stories of drought and famine, which is beginning to affect thousands. John McKelvy, our country director tells of a recent visit to the Pokot district where he found whole communities living off wild peas. These peas are actually poisonous unless they are cooked for over ten hours!

Yet, amidst these tumultuous times, our current projects are having great affects on whole communities. In Kenya, our livestock programmes have included introducing new breeds that can endure drought better. Now, during these testing times, our teams are reporting back on how well these livestock are surviving. This is fantastic news and our desire is to see so many more communities benefit from these programs.
 
As we each face the effects of the recession we would ask that you look beyond to a God who is bigger than we could ever imagine and ask what He would have you do to support the work of Samaritan’s Purse.

What you can do

Will you join with us and PRAY…for the East African Governments as they face such difficult times; for rain and a good harvest; for the healing of severely malnourished babies that are already at our feeding centre.

Will you join with us and TELL…your friends and family about the situation in Ethiopia and Kenya. You can also sign-up to our Twitter feed to get regular updates from Simon Barrington in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Will you join with us and GIVE…so that children and families can make it through this famine.

£30 could provide long-term clean water to two families of five, reducing water-borne diseases which are fatal for small children with malnutrition.

£60 could provide emergency medical supplies to look after 100 people for three months.

£150 could supply emergency food to a small village for up to a month.