September 2009
As you will have read in The Observer, devastating drought in Kenya is causing acute malnutrition – and in some cases death – as well as killing livestock and crops, and leading to tensions over scarce water resources.
The failure of the country’s ‘long rains’ earlier this year means that nearly four million people are already in need of emergency food aid according to the World Food Programme.
Food and water prices have spiralled - by as much as 170% in some places. Pastoralists and subsistence farmers have been forced from their land.
Kenya’s hopes now rest on seasonal rains due in October and November. If they fail, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has warned the country will face ‘a catastrophe’.
How we are responding
Christian Aid has already released emergency funds that are being used to:
• truck in water to the worst affected areas
• repair boreholes
• provide seeds for drought-resistant crops
• construct and rehabilitate water points.
More money is needed
Although there are many attributing factors to this burgeoning crisis, Christian Aid believes that climate change plays a significant role; and what we are now witnessing in Kenya, will happen with more frequency and severity as poor communities pay the price for rich countries’ failure to tackle climate change.
Your donations can help us respond now and when these crises unfold in the future. Please give generously by using the donation box on the right-hand side of this page.