Ethiopia’s Hidden Hungry
GAiN Canada Assists Borana Tribe Members Starving in Bush Country
After discovering 2500 starving members of the Borana tribe gathered south of Yebelo, Ethiopia, Global Aid Network (GAiN) Canada responded with immediate food and plans to assist in their long-term recovery from the drought crisis in East Africa.
“He said… ‘Help us before we die like our cattle,” GAiN’s director Bill Blaney explained, referring to his conversation with a Borana clan leader on September 9. By his team’s count, the group numbers 2500 people, with members of fifty clans from different locations in Kenya and Ethiopia. Cattle herders, these semi-nomadic clans gather in the bush annually. With the vast majority of their livestock dead, they are now starving, and have elected to remain together indefinitely.
By September 11, local volunteers had begun to distribute the 8500 kilos of maize, oil, sugar and milk GAiN was able to purchase from a neighboring town. To ensure fairness, GAiN provided recipients with numbered wristbands. A nutritionist and a government security team were also on hand to help.
GAiN’s intervention was timely: tribe members had not eaten for a week. According to one Borana woman, a number of aid agencies passing through the area had promised to return with food. The last such group came a month ago, but no help arrived. After hearing this, Blaney was firm: “We will deliver on what we promised.”
GAiN’s encounter with the Borana group illustrates that East Africa’s starving are not always in plain view. Accessing the main food centres is not possible for everyone. For the Borana people, who derive their identity from maintaining healthy herds, to beg for food is shameful.
With this in mind, Blaney’s team is making plans to help this group towards a full recovery. They are establishing an on-site food station that will be staffed by local volunteers after Blaney departs for Canada. Long term, GAiN is investigating the possibility of drilling deep-water wells and purchasing pairs of goats, cows, and donkeys to reestablish the Borana’s herds.
While optimistic about the project, Blaney remains gravely concerned about the drought in Africa. Expecting mainly to find Somali refugees, Blaney instead encountered village after village in Ethiopia whose residents were without food and water. “The whole country is starving to death… This drought,” he commented, “doesn’t recognize borders.”
It only takes $31.50 to feed a family of five for one week. That is only $0.75 per day, per person. Will you please help these hurting families? $135 would help rescue this family for a month, and a gift of $810 would feed them for 6 months.
Time is of the essence as each day brings death upon the heels of malnutrition, and disease that permeate the camps. Can you give a most generous gift today to reach out to the desperate people in ETHOPIA? Know that anything you send will help save lives.
