Caritas Internationalis Seeking Partners to Address Bishops’ Drought Appeal for Kenya

When launching their appeal during the May 27 press conference, KCCB members said the targeted amount is to aid the affected people through “cash transfers, water and sanitation, agricultural inputs and fodder and veterinary services for livestock.” 

The Catholic Bishops in Kenya listed Marsabit, Isiolo, Lodwar, Garissa, Kitui, Kilifi, Mombasa, Machakos, Malindi, Maralal, Ngong, and parts of Nyahururu, Kitale, Nyeri, and Nakuru as areas that are most affected by the drought.

In the August 30 report, CI officials say around 4.1 million Kenyans are food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance, adding that the numbers of those who are food insecure has risen from 17% since May this year.

Officials of the global confederation of Catholic relief agencies say add that child malnutrition has risen by “around 50 per cent in the last three months to 942,000.”

CI officials say drought and severe climate conditions in parts of the East African nation “have greatly affected Kenyan farmers, many of whom have suffered the loss of their livestock and markets due to disease and malnutrition.”

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“Households are also facing rising food prices, limiting their access and consumption of food staples such as milk, maize and beans,” officials of the entity that shares the Catholic Church mission to serve the poor and to promote charity and justice across the globe say. 

Kenya’s recent general elections disrupted the operations of County governments, leaving several vulnerable communities in drought-affected areas without adequate financial or political support, CI officials say.

In the report published August 30, officials of the Catholic entity guided by the vision to be a sign of God’s love for humanity in Jesus Christ make reference to a webinar in which the Director of the Caritas of Marsabit Diocese, Jirma Molu, decry the lack of “reliable rainfall”.

“We haven’t received reliable rainfall for the last four years and the livestock have died in large numbers, leaving many families with nothing to own and therefore sustain their lives on relief support which is currently very scarce,” Mr. Molu is quoted as saying.

In the report, CI officials also raise concern about the “estimated 18.4 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia (who) are in need of immediate food assistance because of the drought and severe food insecurity.”

In an August 24 report, officials of The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is a United Nations (UNOCHA) said communities in the Horn of Africa are facing the threat of starvation following four consecutive failed rainy seasons in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, a climatic event not seen in at least 40 years.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.