Special Appeal for children displaced by drought

The whole country eagerly anticipates the long rainy season which usually blesses us at the end of March/early April.   Parts of Kenya have had a few intermittent showers this month, but not enough to impact the parched earth.   This is the hungry season for the majority of Kenyans.  Maize and beans stored to see them through have run out and it will be some time before crops can be harvested, assuming a year of good rainfall.  

Northern Kenya is struggling.  Rivers have dried up, livestock have meagre pickings and nomadic people move in search of water and food.  US Aid, the Red Cross, and others are actively pursuing food aid programmes in this area.  Familes and children migrate south in hope of a more welcoming climate and, subsequently, end up begging and foraging on the streets of Kitale.    As more people become aware of the possiblities of a less harsh climate, education for their children, casual labour and a more stable lifestyle, more people, especially the young, migrate.

Food insecurity also leads to physical insecurity and banditry and skirmishes especially livestock rustling are prevalent at times like this.  This is also a driving force in people migrating south.

We continue to assist in ways that will provide these people with education and skills to enable them to survive in Kitale or, in time, to return to their home communities, taking with them the tools they cannot access there which hopefully can improve their lives.  We work with children, families and youths to empower and provide a future filled with hope.  While we appreciate the need to rescue, we focus more on long term sustainable solutions rather than hand-outs. 

And, while we do that, we await the rains....

Links:

• Recent newspaper article