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Kenya Crisis Report from Edward Buria
August 2011
 As Kenya goes through yet another severe famine that has been occasioned by the prolonged drought that has been with us for the last 6 years or so, and which has left over 5 million Kenyans with very serious food shortage and in great need of relief supply, I felt the Lord laying it on my heart to ask this question. Is this just a crisis or another God-given opportunity for God to express once again His Love, Compassion and Mercy through His people?
As I report on this crisis and all its devastation on human, animals and general vegetation in Kenya and the Nations of the Horn of Africa, it is important to take note that this drought/famine has been described as the worst drought/famine in over 70 years in this region. The forecast/predictions of this Crisis is that it will become even more worse in the months to come forcing us to maintain the relief supplies to March/April 2012 in making sure that those we are targeting are sustained and kept alive.
Despite the terrible effects on everything as a result of the on-going drought/ famine, I still choose to say that this Crisis is yet another opportunity for God to show His love, compassion and mercy by touching the lives of the many that have been affected by the famine through using us all i.e. Locally and World over. Many lives will be saved and given hope as we allow God to use us through our generous response, and faithful stewardship by those of us who are on the ground assisting the targeted. I also hope that our Government can come up with projects that can address this situation once and for all. It is a huge embarrassment for us as a Nation (i.e. Kenya) having to depend on relief supplies year after year when it is very possible to have projects that guarantee food security for our people all the time. It’s all about Leadership, Priorities and Governance.
The severity of the drought/famine is being seen and felt in the following places within our Country. North Kenya happens to be the most badly affected i. e. Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, whole of Samburu, Turkana and some parts of the North Rift. Tharaka, Ukambani, Mbeere, Meru North, and some parts of the Coast and a small section of Central Kenya is also affected. In the mentioned areas, a number of human deaths has been reported and thousands of animals have also succumbed to the ravaging drought. The story is the same and more serious in Somalia where things have been worsened by having a country that hasn’t been properly governed for over 2 decades. More deaths are being reported in Somalia more than any other country in the of Horn of Africa. Cholera and other opportunistic diseases have set in killing children and adults. It is also very difficult sustaining lives in Somalia as there are virtually no structures as well as infrastructures in place. I have sent a team to Somalia (will not give much details on this for security reasons) who will tell us more about Somalia, Djibouti and Eriteria. We have good work going on in Ethiopia and should be getting more news shortly on their situation based on the situation on the ground.
In Southern Sudan, our friend Jimmy and his team are trying their best in assisting with the little that is finding its way into their hands. I have asked one of us Martin Kirima and a team that lives in Juba to gather more information and logistics and pass it to our main office in Meru to see how we can help if possible. The Horn of Africa has never experienced such a drought in over 70 years. We need assistance and we need it so urgently!
Kenya
We are supporting around 750 family units ( which represents over 6000 souls) with regular supplies that include Unimix which is very rich in vitamins and minerals. Unimix is very good for children, sick and elderly. We are also supplying small quantities of sugar for energy boosting, maize, maize flour, beans, rice and large supplies of clean water. Our lorries and 4x4 trucks are traversing these areas with supplies that will keep the targeted for a fortnight before we return back. Each family receives enough stocks that allow them to at least have a single meal each day of every month. We have also now been forced to have mobile clinics alongside the relief operations as we continue to see so many developing medical conditions from opportunistic diseases related to malnutrition and lack of fluids in the body. Like earlier stated, we will have to continue assisting the affected for the next 8 months if sufficient rains will arrive in October/November and we are able to have good harvest in March 2012.
Good News
As we continue with the emergency response of relief supplies, we have embarked on projects that are aimed at addressing the problem of lack of water especially in Samburu. In the next 3 months we will have completed 2 PAN DAMS that will be able to collect over 100,000 cubit metres of rain water ( that will go for 1 year) and that will be able to supply water to over 18,000 people and their livestock (See below a Pan Dam excavation work in progress )
We will also have completed 4 SAND DAMS (see below a Sand Dam work in progress) and a BOLE HOLE (Borehole fully paid for by Compassion International) in our Wamba Base.
We also plan to supply a few camels and goats in November/December as a way of injecting back their livelihood as livestock remains the only major source of economic empowerment amongst the pastoralists communities. In the lower Eastern Province region, we will supply seeds for planting in October 2011. We are managing to maintain the on-going relief efforts and coming up with sustainable projects ( that run into tens of millions of Kenya shillings ) to the affected people and areas through various good partnership and friends just to mention but a few. The newfrontiers family of churches both Internationally and locally, Compassion International, friends in Germany who have rallied behind our dear friend Bob Hatton on our behalf, the RG Hardy Ministries in Baltimore MD USA, several local companies like Mafuko Industries etc. To you all a huge thank you and God bless! We will keep you all posted on regular basis on the development of things. For those within the region, we will be showing some clips through our popular TV program ‘a miracle in the village’ - so stay tuned! We will also time and again be pasting pictures/videos on our website http://www.edfri.org for all to appreciate what is being accomplished.
I will kindly ask everyone seeing this report to keep on praying for/with us for the much needed resources. Like I have mentioned earlier, this particular initiative i.e. Together Against Famine Kenya (TAF) will run between August 2011 to March 2012 which of course represents huge budgets.
As we do all this and much more, my (our) motivation, passion and joy is, we are doing this for Jesus’ sake! We are compelled by the Love and Compassion of Christ making all our efforts and sacrifice to have eternal benefits to those we are touching and giving hope, and to us who are giving our substances and stewarding the same. My heart is so excited not because of our small contribution that guarantees the sustenance of several thousands, good plans that we have in place etc. I am so excited that once again this crisis gives us another opportunity of making Jesus famous and advancing the Kingdom of God!
God bless you.
Edward Buria |
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