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NEWS > Horn of Africa food crisis > Reports of Fredrick Njuguna, Kenya, July 2011

Reports of Fredrick Njuguna, Kenya, July 2011

cbm's Fredrick Njuguna reporting from the food crisis in the Horn of Africa


Fredrick Njuguna
Fredrick Njuguna (left)
Project Officer
cbm East Africa

 
Sunday, 24 July, 2011, Meru - Tharaka

We travelled to Tharaka Meru over the weekend (23rd  of July, 2011) and from what I saw in Tharaka, this is the worst  food crisis ever to happen in Kenya.

It was so sad meeting families with children with disabilities, majority depending on their single mothers, being in such a desperate situation.  Families that had not had meal for days, others depending on a cup of porridge from the grains received from well wishers if lucky.

I felt sorry for the women who had to walk hundreds of kilometers, despite the insecurity and uncertainty, to beg for food  to feed their families; women who had to walk 3- 4hrs to fetch water; children who were 1- 2 years old and have not access to milk since their mother stopped breastfeeding them Though the government is trying to provide some food ratio through schools, children with disabilities and the non schooling children can not access this food and are showing signs of malnutrition.

We met  the family of Lucy  Makena, a single  mother, with five children two of whom aged 4 years old have cerebral palsy (cp).  She is leaving in a small rented house of Kenya and trying to sell fire wood - which no one has money to buy - to feed and pay rent. One of the girls (Caroline) with CP was abandoned in the forest and was rescued and she agreed to take care of her after being promised to receive rations from the children department and government,promises which have never materialised. Many are the times they have slept hungry and she got to a point of considering  abandoning all the children and run away.

Another family with 5 children, one of whom had multiple disabilities, had no food at all and had put two stones in a cooking pot as symbol of an upcoming meal.

The situation in Tharaka and other parts of the Northern Kenya needs urgent intervention to avert deaths.
 
Anita with patch on Saranyah and her grandmother Surumpayee Caroline deaf Community rehabilitation Emergency work Cornelius after ortho surgery
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