African Food Crisis Appeal
African Food Crisis
Thank you!
The response to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd's offer to match donations for East Africa famine has been overwhelming!
When we stopped counting on the 30th November (closing date for the government's generous offer), we had received donations totalling $1,689,757. Of this, $750,681 is to be matched by the Australian Government. That means together we'll be providing aid worth $2,440,438. We give thanks to God for such wonderful generosity, and will report to you fully in late January.
Please pray for the people suffering due to the drought and famine in East Africa. Pray for aid workers and security staff. Pray for political and military stability in the region.
Challenge
As you know, our Lutheran teams (Lutheran World Federation – LWF) are heavily involved in the life-saving work at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. The Camp is the largest in the world, and home to more than 500,000 people fleeing the famine in Somalia.
In the last week, two aid workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were kidnapped from inside the camp, and have not been seen since. This follows the hijacking of a CARE vehicle a few weeks earlier. While no demands have yet been made, there is no sign of the missing persons. We pray for their safety. Kenyan armed forces have increased activity around the Somali border, aiming to enhance security, but the region is high risk.
As a result, all visits to Dadaab have been suspended, and no expatriate aid workers are able to go there. LWF and other agencies are maintaining as much life-saving work as possible – food, water, limited medical. Our work in schools, and surveying tent sites, may need to close for the time being as they are high risk activities. LWF is working with all involved agencies on adapting plans given the insecurity challenge.
ALWS will be guided by our Lutheran teams in Kenya. Meanwhile our support continues to Dadaab through LWF, along with Ethiopia, Somalia and the Turkana region of Kenya through our actalliance partners.
Please pray for:
- the missing aid workers
- that security can be restored so full life-saving work can resume
- wisdom for LWF and other agencies responding to the crisis
- safety for our Lutheran teams still working in Dadaab
- the refugee families who have suffered so much
GOOD NEWS: Australian Government Grant for Africa
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced on 5 October that donations to help people affected by the East Africa famine will now be matched dollar for dollar by the Australian Government!
This means donations given now for East Africa through ALWS can be DOUBLED!
The offer is available from 5 October to 30 November, and applies to all donations from individuals. Mr Rudd recently visited Somalia, and was shocked by what he saw: "To see the desperation on people's faces, especially mothers, is a soul-searching experience."
Nearly 50% of aid needed for the region has so far been provided, and Australia has been a leading contributor - the third largest in the world!
Lutheran teams, through Lutheran World Federation, play a lead role in the delivery and co-ordination of the world's aid, particularly in Dadaab Refugee Camp, the world's largest.
As of 26 October, the response from across the Lutheran church and our schools, friends and families to help people hurt by the famine in Africa is now: $1,037,769. Amazing!
Of this, $143,053 is available to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Australian Government. (The Grant is available for all donations from individuals until 30 November.)
ALWS gives thanks to God that so many people are so generous to our brothers and sisters in such desperate need.
Double Your Dollar Bulletin Insert (PDF)
Double Your Dollar Bulletin Insert (Word)
Double Your Dollar PowerPoint Slide
Lutheran World Federation and actalliance partners in the Horn of Africa region see need everywhere – in the Kakuma, Dadaab and Djibouti Refugee Camps and due to the war and fighting in Somalia and Sudan.
However, it is the worst drought in the Horn of Africa for over 60 years that is rapidly worsening an already extremely difficult situation in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. LWF is responding to a huge influx of refugees into Dadaab (Kenya) and Dollo Odo (Ethiopia) from Somalia, as well as local communities in both countries where families are struggling with the failure of crops, loss of livestock and their related livelihoods. Other actalliance members are also responding to the situation in Somalia itself where hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to survive.
Your gift to ALWS will help support our partners meet the needs of people right across East Africa.
Note: Any surplus funds that may be raised will be allocated to other similar ALWS-supported projects.
Call 1300 763 407
Post your cheque to: PO Box 488 Albury NSW 2640
African Food Crisis Bulletin Insert (JPEG)
African Food Crisis Bulletin Insert (PDF)
African Food Crisis PowerPoint Slide
African Food Crisis PowerPoint Slide in JPEG
African Food Crisis PhotoStory (Movie) 4MB, 2min 30sec
African Food Crisis PhotoStory NEW (Movie) 4MB, 2min 30sec
Jonathan from ALWS on ABC radio (2.3MB)
Newspaper article - Youth in Shepparton fundraising (PDF)
Newspaper editorial - Youth in Shepparton fundraising (PDF)
Thousands of people are leaving Somalia every day in the hope of finding a stable water supply and safety. Many of them walk to the biggest cluster of refugee camps in the world today, Dadaab (in Eastern Kenya). The refugee population in Dadaab has grown by 85 per cent in just three years, putting immense pressure on humanitarian response, environment and straining host community and refugee relations.
When Dadaab first opened two decades ago, a family of five lived on a plot of land that was about the same area as a small house. Since August 2008, the UNHCR had to put second families in each of those plots of land. And then third families. Now they are at the stage where they have more than 42,000 of the newly arrived refugees actually outside the camp boundaries because there is nowhere to fit them inside. And this number is growing. Apart from not being able to access services, the new refugees, that are technically illegally settled outside the camp boundaries, cannot be guaranteed protection and the areas are also prone to floods. Presently about 1,300 people arrive at Dadaab from Somalia daily. With no place available in the camps, they end up outside in what is known as illegal settlements. The Kenyan Government has tried to demolish such settlements, and so fighting has erupted with deaths resulting.
Photo Credit: Lokiru Matendo
The new arrivals are often very tired and exhausted, having travelled very far. Sometimes from as far as the Somali capital Mogadishu, in some cases on foot over 1,000km. The majority of the new arrivals are women and children – many are farmers and animal herders. The prolonged drought means failed harvests and dying animals, and the families are suffering unimaginable horror.
All persons arriving at the camps are medically screened. Children below 15 years are vaccinated. The majority of the people have spent several days, sometimes weeks, walking through the dry land, often without food and with little water. They arrive in Dadaab in very poor conditions. Out of a total of 6,548 children under five screened at the reception centres during June, an average of 17% were moderately, and another 10.5% severely, malnourished. 2.25% were severely malnourished with medical complications. Most of the people arriving are dehydrated and very hungry. Many lack clothing and are bare foot. On average 20–30 children die of malnutrition every month, with the malnutrition rates among new arrivals reaching 30–40%. The UN OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Global Food Security Update (July 2011) describes the situation in the Horn of Africa as “the most severe food security emergency in the world today”.
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All refugees undergo a “vulnerability assessment”, by Lutheran teams, when they arrive. This is to identify persons with disabilities, social vulnerabilities, female headed households, unaccompanied minors, separated children and unaccompanied elderly persons. When these persons are identified, they are given priority for transport to the registration centre for documentation and issuance of ration cards. Discussions are underway with the agencies involved to strengthen the vulnerability screening, identification and referral system at the registration and documentation point for appropriate interventions and follow up in the three camps.
Currently, the Lutheran team (LWF) are in discussions with other partners in Dadaab to support the new arrivals in different ways (especially with Non-Food Items and material for temporary shelter). They are also trying to find ways to support the refugees along the way from Somalia to Dadaab, as there are many of them who do not make it all the way.
After reception and processing, the new arrivals receive a wrist band for identification and are given high protein foods. They are given 15 days of rations and non-food items (cooking pots, mats and jerry cans and plastic sheets), though the huge number of arrivals means that many miss out on shelter/tents and are living in small, unsafe makeshift shelters.
To be able to extend the basic services, including layout of family plots, provision of water and sanitation, health, emergency shelter, education and security in a more coordinated manner on the outskirts of the camps (or rather outside the planned camps), those areas will be planned in a structured manner. The UNHCR has asked the Lutheran team to do this, and as soon as an agreement with the host community can be reached, they will begin this work.
Water is a big challenge because taps are few and there is a limit to how much water can be pumped from existing boreholes. People have to walk long distances and wait for more than 2 hours in line to fetch water. There is a need to truck water into the camps as well as to the host community. LWF is in the process of hiring a truck for this purpose.
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The Lutheran team plans to increase the information sharing activities in order to reach all newly arrived refugees settled in the outskirts with information on essential life-saving issues like attention to malnutrition and access to basic services.
LWF is now preparing to begin distribution of enriched porridge flour to children and to the elderly. Several cases have been identified where the elderly and children are too weak to eat dry food. The Lutheran team is also planning to distribute clothes, slippers and sanitary wear for women. The clothes are particularly for young Somali girls, as they are expected to dress in a traditional way from the age of around 6 years which may be very difficult for some. Very simple direh and hijab dresses can be made in Dadaab by engaging host community youth for income generation.
The work is very intense, the situation extremely difficult, and staff are working around the clock.
Australian Lutheran World Service offer long-term support to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Though not as directly impacted by the drought as Dadaab yet, the Kakuma Reception Centres continue to receive many new arrivals. In June over 850 people arrived.
As pressure mounts on Dadaab to receive more refugees, many people will be relocated to Kakuma, which is almost near capacity. ALWS is working with the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), other faith-based agencies, Aus AID, and LWF at ways to best respond to this emergency.
Donations to assist refugees fleeing the Horn of Africa are welcomed. Your help will be part of an emergency response program to help refugees seeking safety and shelter at these camps and will be put to use where needed most. Most in need at this time are clean water and sanitation, food, shelter, and household items such as soap, blankets, and kitchen sets.
Photo Credit: Lokiru Matendo
Much of this information has been supplied by Lennart Hernander, the LWF/DWS Representative Kenya-Djibouti. Photos without credit supplied by LWF-DWS Kenya.
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Luley - A Long and Difficult Journey
Fatih Kagwirin, an LWF worker in the Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya, recently met Luley at her new home. This is Faith’s story ….
At just 19, Luley Hassan Aden is a mother of two small children. Luley is settled in the outskirts of section L10 of Hagadera Campin in the Dadaab Refugee Camp area where the other new arrivals like herself are settling themselves.
On this afternoon during the our visit she is resting in a space between her old make-shift Tukul (Somali-lounge) and her new “house” (tent) that she benefited from the LWF distribution of tents to new arrivals three days ago.
Luley was given into an arranged married when she turned 17 years and within no time she was ushered to motherhood and is now a mother of 2 children. After living peacefully with her husband in the middle of Juba (Sudan), she began what would prove to be the longest journey in her life to flee from the insecurity that was becoming unbearable.
“It was a time that I needed to look for peace for my children and myself not caring to know where I was going,” she says poignantly.
She told how her husband was forced to flee from their home due to fears of being killed by the militia after his refusal on enlisting himself as a fighter.
“I have never known if my husband is alive or dead and whenever my children ask when their dad is coming I always lie to them that he went for a long journey and has been delayed there because of lack of money,” she narrates as her watery-eyes stare with desperation.
During her days in Somalia they kept cattle and so she started her journey to Kenya with the family livestock. But as fate could have it, the cattle died a few days before she found her way to the refugee camps.
On their way to Hagadera (one of the camps in Dadaab), they encountered some bandits who robbed all the people in their “convoy‟ and left them with no valuables.
“It’s challenging to travel for a long distance without knowing where you are ending to”, Luley says thoughtfully.
Luleys says that she is slowly accepting and trying to adopt her new status in Hagadera camp as a refugee assisted by her relatives. Her greatest challenge is how to bring up her two children in the refugee camps, being so young and without a husband.
Upon arrival in Hagadera, her relatives hosted her in a dilapidated tukul, or hut. She stayed in this structure for 4 days weathering the biting cold of the night.
“I had never stayed in the Tukul before. My children and I developed a cold. Life was so miserable and I felt I had lost it all” says Luley.
One day she was visited by the block leader who took her details and she never knew what to expect but just obliged and gave her ration card number. That same day, she was visited by a team which she says she came to know as agency staff who came to see where she was staying.
“We found her state so unbearable and the fact that she was a young woman staying under such structure with children made our team prioritise her case and we did a follow-up visit and put up a tent for her,” says Kenyan, a LWF social worker based in Hagadera.
Story and Photos: Faith Kagwirin, LWF worker in the Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya
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CALLING ON ALL CHRISTIANS
ALWS is calling on all Christians to pray for peace in Sudan and South Sudan, as violence continues.
We are joining with Christians both here in Australia (Read the Act for Peace statement here) and around the world (Read the LWF statement calling for prayer and the plea from the Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan) in prayers for peace, expressing concern and solidarity with the suffering people of Sudan and South Sudan, and calling on all parties in Sudan and South Sudan to stop the violence and work toward a peaceful settlement as the transition to independence continues.
Our concern for the future of South Sudan is brought into sharper relief when we remember the many people in our own Lutheran church have come from this part of the world, and still have relatives living in the conflict-affected areas. ALWS is currently undertaking research to determine how it can best support our brothers and sisters in Christ who have knocked on the doors of the Lutheran Church after coming from Sudan to make a new life in Australia. However, it doesn’t require any ‘fact finding missions’ to acknowledge the deep concern that they will be experiencing for their families and communities, and the need for us to pray for and stand in solidarity with them at this difficult time.
BACKGROUND: THE REFERENDUM
In 2005 a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) bringing to a close a war that had raged since 1983 and which cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The Agreement laid out a timetable for a vote on the future of south Sudan. This process culminated in a week-long referendum that officially ended on Saturday, 15 January 2011 with minimal disruption or unrest. With voter turnout far surpassing the required 60% threshold, the referendum result – 98% percent in favour of independence – was binding on all parties. Read more about the referendum.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
From January, the north and south regions of Sudan were to undergo a period of, hopefully, peaceful transition; which would conclude with the declaration of the South as an independent country on July 9, 2011.
A major part of this transition was that the disputed, semi-autonomous territory of Abyei would hold an independent referendum in conjunction with voting in the rest of Southern Sudan. Almost two months since the South announced the referendum’s result, residents of the oil-rich territory – straddling the north/south border - are yet to cast their vote.
As Southern Sudan moved closer to the end of the 6-month transition period to statehood, contention in the Abyei territory is descending into bloody violence. Already the region has seen hundreds of civilians killed or injured in skirmishes between police, armed militia and rival groups. Fearing more attacks, at least 25,000 residents were forced to flee Abyei town in March. The disputed territory now presents a dangerous flashpoint that threatens to derail Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement and further marginalise the most vulnerable communities in Sudan’s south.
ALWS joins with its partners LWF & ACT Alliance (see ACT Alliance statement and LWF statement here) in condemning the use of violence against civilians and urges all parties, supported by the United Nations and African Union, “to use all possible measures to stop hostilities, protect civilians, and allow humanitarian access” especially to South Kordofan. As the Northern and Southern Sudanese states grapple with their impending separation, growing political dissent and mass migration are likely to place considerable strain on an already tenuous peace and development process. Since 2005 ALWS, through its support for the LWF Program, has endeavoured to assist these processes by practical programs in and with vulnerable communities in the south.
We urgently pray that the transition to statehood does not undo all that has been accomplished to date, or reignite the violence and bloodshed that claimed the lives and livelihoods of so many people.
We encourage all in the LCA to extend your solidarity to the people of Sudan and South Sudan and offer your prayers for peace, which is essential to building a new nation and providing opportunity for its people to achieve their God-given potential and shape their own futures.
MEDIA RELEASE - 14 June 2011
from Act for Peace, the international aid agency of the NCCA
Violence against civilians in Sudan sparks fears of return to war
Escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s disputed South Kordofan state is leading to a major humanitarian catastrophe and threatens to return war to Sudan just weeks before the independence of South Sudan.
Several eye-witness accounts indicate that government troops are carrying out “house-to-house” searches in the towns, pulling out suspected opposition sympathisers and in some cases killing them on the spot.
Act for Peace, the international aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia, has received numerous reports from project partners in Sudan that survivors have locked themselves into their homes, without food or water, for fear of being killed. Others have fled to the Nuba Mountains where they are being pursued by helicopter gunships.
More than 60,000 people have fled recent fighting between Sudanese government troops and members of the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, according to the United Nations.
Act for Peace’s project partner, the Sudan Council of Churches, reports of violence and mass atrocities against civilians by both government troops and the SPLA, including bombing of villages, killings, looting and burning of property.
The Sudan Ecumenical Forum, a peace network of Christian churches that has worked in Sudan for nearly two decades, says the international community must pressure both warring parties to fulfil their obligation to protect civilians.
“A humanitarian crisis on an enormous scale is unfolding in South Kordofan state. We appeal to world leaders and governments to pay attention to this situation and urgently protect people,” said its co-chair Eberhard Hitzler.
Food and fuel are increasingly scarce and humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, but efforts in and around Kadugli to bring aid to those affected are being severely hampered by the fighting and the presence of troops.
Act for Peace Executive Director, Alistair Gee, said, “The international community must act urgently, calling for an immediate ceasefire, declaring South Kordofan a no-fly zone and enabling emergency workers to deliver relief.”
Act for Peace has supported its project partners in impressive conflict reduction and peace building work in South Sudan. One Act for Peace partner has been clearing remnants of war including landmines and small arms ammunition since 2004. In the lead-up to the January 2011 referendum on self-determination of South Sudan, the Sudan Council of Churches conducted peace assessments and delivered training and civic education to ensure elections were peaceful and fair.
“This violence, just weeks before South Sudan gains its hard-won independence on July 9, threatens to unravel the whole peace process to which so many people have dedicated themselves,” said Alistair Gee.
Help stop Guinea Worm attacking children!
The guinea worm is a parasite that can grow up to a metre long – inside the human body! Almost the last place on earth it exists is southern Sudan, where Lutheran support is helping poorest communities, and where more help is needed now.
Humans contract guinea worm by drinking dirty water containing ‘water fleas’ infested with worm larvae. The worm mates inside the victim’s body… and after 12 months starts to burrow out.
ALWS is aiming to raise $163,712 immediately to provide 7 bore-holes, 200 toilets and hygiene-training at 31 schools - to protect children and families from guinea worm and other diseases caused by dirty water.
After 12 months inside the human body, the guinea worm starts its burrowing out.
The burning pain of this is so intense, the victim rushes to bathe it in water. This re-infects the water. The worm is only fully removed by rolling it out on a stick, a few centimetres a day, over weeks.
In the 50s, up to 50 million people were infected by guinea worm annually. By 1986 this had been reduced to 3.5 million people. Under the leadership of former US President Jimmy Carter, last year there were only 1,785 cases.
95% of these cases were in southern Sudan. The good news is that if enough clean water and training can be provided here, the guinea worm can be eradicated from the planet! Donate now
Through ALWS, Aussie and NZ Lutherans can provide clean water to families and schools in southern Sudan! Adding latrines and hygiene training also helps prevent diseases caused by dirty water that kill a child every 20 seconds.
Call 1300 763 407
Post your cheque to: PO Box 488 Albury NSW 2640
How you help
Clean, safe water…
In Sudan, the working life of bore-hole with properly maintained water-pump can be up to 50 years. Each bore-hole can serve 500 people.
Cost: $27 per person, $162 per family
Proper toilets…
1. Provide latrine construction tools and squatting slabs to 200 households - $7,955
2. Construct pit latrines for 4 schools that already have
an operating Hygiene and Sanitation Club - $12,728
Hygiene training…
Baseline studies in southern Sudan reveal that only:
3% of people use latrines
1% have facilities to wash hands
6% use dish-racks
The impact on children’s health is disastrous. Hygiene training, using posters like these, is essential.
1. Create Hygiene Clubs in 13 school - 8,787
2. Provide tools for latrine cleaning and hand-washing to 18 schools - $5,427
3. Train Hygiene & Sanitation Promoters for 11 communities - $7,326
Call 1300 763 407
Post your cheque to: PO Box 488 Albury NSW 2640