More than 10 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and the newly-formed Republic of South Sudan have been left in need of food, water and emergency healthcare because of one of the worst droughts in 60 years; described by the UN as the world’s worst unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Plan is on the ground providing relief to thousands of children and families in East Africa, where severe drought has put millions of people at risk of starvation.
Our emergency teams are helping communities in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. They are also monitoring the situation in Karamoja, Uganda - a region that suffers from chronic poverty, food shortages and periodic drought. And we have extended our response outside of normal operation areas.
In Kenya, where we have 494 children currently waiting for sponsors, we are working in 5 areas: Tharaka, Machakos and Kitui in the Eastern Province, Kwale and Kilifi in the Coastal region.
So far we have reached more than 650,000 people through our relief work (363,974 in Kenya) including our school supplementary feeding programme, water trucking and storage, therapeutic feeding, hygiene promotion, and child protection.
Sarah Mace, from Plan’s DRR team, is currently out in Kenya:
“In East Africa, our work is on-going to help children affected by the drought. The need is not going to go away.
“You can feel the impact of the drought everywhere. While large scale farms in Kenya bring in revenue, it’s estimated that around 60% of all agricultural income comes from small scale farmers. And it is in these communities that the impact of the drought is being felt the most.
“We are continuing our school feeding programme in Tharaka, Kitui, Machakos and Kwale seven days a week not just for the school children, but for their younger siblings. This is having a good impact and children are coming back to school and to their homes.
“Their parents had been taking them out of school to move to areas where they could find food and work.
“The crisis is also making children more vulnerable to exploitation with children making charcoal and working in construction. Children are also selling their bodies in order to eat."
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