The harvest has failed

23 Million people across East Africa are facing starvation following a further failed harvest, and the ongoing drought situation across the region.

Families relying on subsistence farming to survive have been hardest hit. Crops have failed for the third time in 12 months, livestock are dead or dying and families are spending all their time foraging for whatever food they can find. We have heard first-hand how people in the hardest hit areas are eating leaves and roots in the forest to survive.

Unpublicised by their respective governments, this crisis is known in Uganda as “aiyeya” or “secret”.  Ongoing since July, the situation is only now beginning to get the attention it so urgently needs from its own governments, and from the global community.

Across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Mothers’ Union members are bringing food relief to as many thousands of people as they can.  Already Mothers’ Union have sent £159,000 with more funding needed to meet all the calls for aid.  This far exceeds any funding previously sent out by Mothers’ Union as a relief effort, and the charity has launched an urgent appeal to help fund the both emergency food aid, and to help programmes such as its Family Life Programme  re-establish food security and agricultural projects should the expected October rains arrive.

Salome Leipa, Mothers’ Union’s Provincial Coordinator for Kenya, has urgent appeals for over £190,000 to fulfil, with 300,000 families turning to Mothers’ Union Kenya for assistance. “This is a national disaster” Salome said, “We have never experienced something like this before. We source what we can from our members who are able to help, but we want more support from our partners in the UK. It makes a big difference because sometimes people have to go without any meal at all for a day or two. If we can give them a packet of maize meal, it can save a life.”

As ever, the people most affected are the rural poor men, women, children, widows, the elderly. These are people who totally have no source of generating any income to afford to buy food which has become very expensive.

Alongside relief funding, Mothers’ Union are seeking to provide seed to families to plant should the expected October rains arrive.  Each family with a successful crop will be asked to bank some of the seed  for other families in need, thereby ensuring the aid given reaches as many in communities as is possible.

To give to Mothers’ Union’s East Africa Famine Appeal follow the link below to our donate page. Alternatively donations can also be accepted by phone, on 020 7222 5533, or by post to Mothers’ Union, 24 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3RB
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