African Woman and Child Feature Service

Many parts within the East and Horn of Africa have been hit by drought. And as the rains fail and water disappears women continue to bear the heavy burden of ensuring that their children eat and thirst is quenched.

Those who have been to the arid and semi arid lands of Kenya can attest to the fact that the issue of missing rains is drawing pitiful pictures. The stories they tell from what they have witnessed are heart wrenching.

“In my visit to Turkana, one of the areas heavily hit by drought, I saw a mother putting powdered palm nuts in her mouth in order to moisten the grains before putting the mixture in her baby’s mouth because of lack of water. Of course it was not a nutritious meal but this is a crisis,” says Anthony Lake, Executive Director UNICEF who toured regions where millions are facing starvation.

While speaking after a tour of the drought stricken region, Lake said this mother and child are unfortunately only two of the estimated 11 million people staring death in the face as various aid agencies declare that the Horn of Africa is facing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world.

As drought continues to ravage countries such as Somali, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, the UN has already declared famine in Somalia and majority of Somalis are trying to find their way into Northern Kenya which is equally affected.

“What we are seeing here is almost a perfect storm what with the conflict in Somali as well as rising fuel and food prices amid lack of rain,” observed Lake who toured regions where millions are already facing imminent death.

Reports by Unicef indicate that this is not simply a refugee crisis but a situation that is being replicated in other communities across the arid and semi-arid regions in the Horn of Africa.

Although drought has affected everyone in these regions, the impact has been extreme on women and children especially expectant and breastfeeding mothers.

In Turkana alone, in a population of about 850,000 people, more than 385,000 children and 90,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition. This has led to an increase in the number of new admissions of children suffering from malnutrition to a staggering 78 percent.

Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross says in Kenya alone an estimated five million people in various part of the country are facing starvation. This is amidst a crisis in the Daadab complex as 1,400 refugees from the Central and Southern Somali find their way into the camp every day. The Kenya government has been forced to open a second camp to enable it manage these rising populations.

“The needs for these new arrivals are growing so fast that Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) is rushing to bring in additional staff and resources. Last month, staff at the health posts gave 11,963 consultations. According to reports by MSF they are seeing large numbers of patients with respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, malnutrition and trauma, and an increasing number of complicated cases.

MSF further notes that “a new health post was opened in March, in the middle of the area where the newcomers are settling, which is already doing an average of 110 consultations a day. We have taken on more than 50 extra staff since October, bringing its total number in Dagahaley camp to 458”.

This comes less than two months since President Kibaki declared drought a national disaster as the lives of people in areas such as Moyale, Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit and Mandera hang in the balance due to lack of food and water.

It is against this background that the Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced that the Government had directed that half a million bags of maize be released from the strategic reserves for famine relief, a move that has reduced the strategic reserves from eight million bags to below 2.2 million.

Raila further noted that the Government needs KSh10.9 billion for its own people as well as many others finding their way into Kenya from drought stricken Somali.

Various Aid agencies have stated that children who are severely malnourished are nine times more likely to die than healthy children.

“The situation across the Horn of Africa is very serious as millions of people are affected. Of these, two million children are severely affected with half a million of them suffering from acute malnutrition and are at the brink of death,” emphasised Lake.

Having endured a long drawn socio-political crisis for about 20 years, the situation has led to the escalation of poverty, food insecurity and instability which has impacted negatively on the lives of many Somalis. Unicef confirms that one in every three Somalis is living through a humanitarian catastrophe.

The situation in Somali has spilled over to the neighbouring countries particularly Kenya and Ethiopia who are themselves dealing with millions of people who require urgent food and water relief.

This has led to an influx of refugees into both countries provoking animosity among the host communities who feel that the refugees are competing with them for scarce food aid.

“The host community is now expressing frustration for what they see as negligence of government and Aid agencies who rush to the rescue of the refugees,” observed Lake.

It is significant to note that Northern Kenya is home to Daadab complex which is the largest refugee site in the world and even though its structures were designed to accommodate about 90,000 people, there are only three refugee camps which constitute the Daadab complex and each was meant to accommodate 30,000 asylum seekers.

Nonetheless, it is now home to an estimated 423,000 thousands refugees. With Unicef estimating that an additional 50,000 refugees are living on the outskirts of the camp.

However, reports by various aid agencies reveal that the refugees might just be fleeing into the camp of death as disturbing images of people literally at the brink of death begin to emerge.

This is due to the fact that there is no longer space to accommodate any more refugees in Daadab, and neither is there enough food and water to meet their needs. The camp was officially declared full in 2008.

Sanitation therefore becomes a problem with consequences which might lead to an outbreak of diseases.

The British government has in light of the bleak circumstances provided emergency assistance for more than one million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somali as the humanitarian disaster continues to escalate in the Horn of Africa.

“People in Britain have responded with great generosity but the situation is getting worse, and is most severe in Somali, where families have to cope with living in one of the most insecure countries in the world, we are calling to everyone to respond with such support and generosity to enable us to meet the needs of those in dire need of our help,” says Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development (UK).

This story was originally published in the Kenyan Woman Issue 20