DanChurchAid
Ethiopia
Drought devastating to farmers
©
Caroline Waterman, Christian Aid
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| A cash-for-work project in southern Ethiopia run by Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus (EECMY), a member of ACT International. |
Source:
ACT International
The cows weep and then they die
In southern Ethiopia, Goyu Gordana is trying to keep the cattle he has left alive, but at least five are dying every day. "When tears fall from the cow's eyes, I know that soon it will be dead," he explains.
Goyu is a Boran. The Borana people live in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. Their way of life depends on their cattle.
Cattle are not only the Borana's source of food and income, but are also important socially.
When a man wants to marry, for example, he must give the bride's father a number of cattle. Her father will give these cattle to his daughter. The bride is then able to enter her husband's family with cows, as an equal to her husband. But there are no weddings anymore.
Kamba Hussein used to be the richest man in his village. He was planning to marry this year, but this is not a time for celebrations. He has lost all 400 of his cattle, and the wedding has been cancelled.
Kamba is clearly in distress. He is not able to speak about the devastation the drought has caused, and he will not return to his village. Now he wanders aimlessly in the surrounding fields trying to come to terms with what has happened.
©
DanChurchAid
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| Southern Ethiopia, January 2006 |
The local authorities have reported that more than half a million people within the Borana district alone are in urgent need of assistance, but the true extent of this need remains masked.
Nutritional surveys carried out by the World Food Program (WFP) assess levels of malnutrition by looking at children under five, as they are often the first in the population to suffer when food is scarce.
Among the Borana, the elders always put their children first. As one elder says, "What kind of a society will watch their children starve?"
While the children are still getting enough food and milk, the adults all say the most they can manage for themselves was one meal a day.
Christian Aid working in Ethiopia
U.K.-based Christian Aid , a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, is working in the region with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus (EECMY), also an ACT member, helping to provide water and work for the Borana so that they can find ways to cope with this crisis.
Christian Aid and EECMY are expected to request Rapid Response Funds from the ACT Coordinating Office in Geneva in the coming days to address the urgent needs in the emergency phase. The two ACT members say they will follow this request with a proposal for an ACT appeal that will include several other ACT members working in Ethiopia.
Elsewhere in the region, from Tanzania to Kenya, where the drought situation is moving toward the crisis stage, ACT members are also providing for the immediate needs for food and water of both people and cattle. They are also helping residents of the hardest-hit areas to find ways to get through the current situation and future droughts.
But the need for both short-term relief and longer-term development is vast. As Goyu said, "If there are people you can appeal to, let them know the urgency of this situation. We need their help now."
By Caroline Waterman - communications officer for U.K.-based Christian Aid , a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.
DanChurchAid is a member of ACT International - a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies.
