|
Kenyans raise 15m/- for hunger victims back home
2006-03-07 08:09:52
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
Kenyans working in Arusha last weekend raised about 15m/- for people threatened by famine back home in a fundraiser presided over by the country’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Muburi Muita.
Speaking at the event in New Mount Meru Hotel, Muita thanked his compatriots and sympathisers for their contributions.
’’This is how human being are supposed to behave...may God bless you all,’’ Muita said, explaining that his office was set to organise another ’’harambee’’ to contribute for people threatened by hunger in Tanzania.
Kenya has appealed for USD 150 million to save the lives of people threatened by famine, saying its main priority is to feed the 3.4 million people who are at immediate risk, almost 10 per cent of the population, while in Tanzania about 3.5 million people have been critically affected by famine.
The Arusha fundraising event was the third of its kind after a similar one was conducted in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in which a total of USD 10,000 was for the same purpose, the envoy said.
World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director James Morris arrived on Saturday in El Wak village, about 420 miles northeast of the capital, Nairobi.
Food programme officials cited the village as an example of the effects of prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa, where 11.5 million people need immediate food aid.
Dozens of people have died of hunger in drought-stricken parts of northeastern and eastern Kenya, according to local media. The government has declared the situation a famine and a national disaster, but has not given any death toll.
’’We will urgently need more help in the next 10 days because it takes time to buy, ship and distribute food. It is not something you can do overnight,’’ Morris said, adding: ’’if we get a break in the food pipeline, then malnutrition will go up very seriously.’’
Throughout a wide swathe of Somalia, Ethiopia, northern Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the failure of rains for two consecutive years has turned watering holes and wells into dry hollows. Up to 80 per cent of cattle have been wiped out and even the hardy goats and camels are dropping dead too.
There are reports of people dying of thirst and those who are still alive have been driven to desperate measures such as drinking their own urine.
Aid agencies warn that without immediate help, widespread famine is just around the corner.
In Somalia, the problem is made even worse by the dire security situation. With no central government for 14 years, the country has degenerated into lawlessness, making it all but impossible for aid agencies to deliver the relief to 1.4 million people in need.
|
