Kenya Drought Response: Latest Update

The extreme drought in East Africa, the worst in over half a century, has affected more than 10 million people across the region.

 Read about our response below and please donate what you can today.

Aidlink is working in partnership with the Diocese of Lodwar and the Girl Child Network in the semi arid lands of Turkana in the north of the country and in Kajiado, home of the Masai, south of Nairobi.

In this time of severe drought we are significantly 'stepping up' our support to both partners to enable them to reach out and respond to the needs and demands of the nomadic pastoralists who are most affected by and vulnerable to this drought.

Our immediate focus in response to the drought:

1. Emergency Response:  We have released €10,000 for the provision of food, tools and seedlings to 600 families in Turkana for one month – effective immediately.  These 600 families, from 3 parishes have been identified by the Diocese of Lodwar and are part of a wider programme targeting the 25 parishes across the Diocese.  The Diocese of Lodwar plays a major role in targeting & coordinating the emergency response throughout the entire Turkana district.

   Aidlink’s partner the GCN are now implementing their school feeding programme with support from Misean Cara through the Redemptorits Fathers Ireland. Schools were due to close for the holiday month of August but GCN with the cooperation of the local district education authorities are keeping 31 schools open to facilitate the feeding of more than 7,000 children daily. This type of feeding programme is the best possible response for the drought stricken Kajiado district. The programme is consistent with normal life where children will continue to learn and play and be fed in their own school.  And the students are not the only ones to benefit from the programme as pressure is taken off families and parents in particular who would otherwise be forced to move in search of food and water.  If families move during a drought many children would be forced to drop out of school and many would never return to the education system. Girls are at particular risk at this time.

    

   The 31 schools selected for inclusion in this feeding programme are from the most remote parts of Kajiado and are not being reached by other agencies. Aidlink is anxious to keep this programme going after an initial 6 week period.

2. Long Term Commitment: Aidlink remains fully committed to our partners in Kenya and our core programmes of  work that focus on Primary Health Care,  water & sanitation , education & food security. We believe that long term development programmes such as ours will provide the long term solutions and strategies to improve the lives of people living in poverty and provide better coping strategies in time of extreme difficulty such as this drought. Along side the food for work and distribution activities described – we will continue to support the ongoing development activities in the Diocese of Lodwar with a particular focus on the Health activities and water & sanitation as well as Girl focused education programme in partnership with the Girl Child Network in Kajiado.
    

A special thanks goes to the joint Redemptorist / SERVE Funding Appeal – with your help the school feeding programme in Kajadio & the Food for Work Programme in Turkana are now up and running - Thank you!

Also a big thank you goes out to Scoil nDaithi in Dun Laoghaire for all the fantastic fundraising! Your support is helping children in Kenya to stay in school by providing them with much needed food - Thank you!

You can help:

Please give what you can today

Thank you for your support.

You can read more about Aidlink's work with the Diocese of Lodwar in Turkana in our independently appraised 'Impact Assessment of Aidlink funded projects / activities in the period 2001-2008 in Turkana, Kenya' here.