ChildFund International CEO Anne Lynam Goddard travelled to Kenya last week to see first-hand the impact of the drought, which has left more than 3.5 million people in need of emergency food aid. Anne visited one of the most affected areas, the Turkana region, where ChildFund is responding.
It’s a dusty and bumpy drive to Lokitaung in northern Kenya. You can taste the dust in the air. It’s early in the morning and already the heat is unbearable. Without water, nothing grows in this hostile environment.
We stop at a health tent. “Thirty-seven percent of children under five are malnourished here,” a local nurse tells me as she weighs a young girl. “Eight percent are severely malnourished. That’s a sharp increase compared to last year.”
In times of food shortage, children under five are the most vulnerable to malnutrition. Inadequate food intake in young children has lifelong growth and development implications. That’s why ChildFund is focusing its relief efforts on providing food to those aged five and younger, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. We are using existing structures we have in place on the ground, including health facilities and early child care and development (ECCD) centres, to deliver food and water.
I would like to convey our sincere gratitude to all who are standing by our side at this trying moment, and by the side of tens of thousands of children and families who are going through the effects of drought in my country, Ethiopia.
The humanitarian situation induced by the shortage of rains for consecutive seasons has affected 4.5 million people in Ethiopia. Some of the affected families are in ChildFund’s operational areas.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors around the world, we have been able to provide emergency food items for close to 17,000 people in Siraro district, which is contributing to the life-saving efforts. “I will no longer have to sell my things to feed my family because of the timely assistance of ChildFund,” one father, Shabadir, told us.
ChildFund’s support in Ethiopia has not only been the provision of emergency relief items, but also our long-term programs in the area of health and nutrition, provision of water and sanitation, psychosocial support, education and economic strengthening. We will continue collaborating with the government, the community and other partners to identify needs and provide assistance.
We are now in the middle of the main rainy season in Ethiopia. The rain comes intermittently in some areas. But we need to realise that the rains now, which are patchy, cannot immediately produce food. We have to wait until after November or December to know their impact, during which time a post-harvest assessment will be conducted.
