Over £9 million raised so far for East Africa
The drought that has ravaged East Africa over the past two years has seen unprecedented numbers of people (over 19 million) face desperate levels of hunger. Your help is making a big difference.
With consistently little or no rainfall, much of the region is in drought, with repeated crop failures, lack of water, poor harvests, depleted livestock reserves, and poor sanitation and hygiene.
On 14 July the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that rains have failed in some parts of East Africa for the third consecutive season. It says affected regions had less than half of their normal rainfall from March to May. This has left crops scorched and pushed cereal prices up to near-record levels in most markets.
‘Droughts like this are happening more often as the climate changes — we’ve had record hot years worldwide for the last three years,’ says Ben Niblett of Tearfund’s UK Campaigns team. ‘We need to restore the balance, by tackling climate change in our own lifestyles, and persuading the government to keep their climate promises too.’
In South Sudan the ongoing conflict is adding to the problems caused by the changing climate.
The East Africa Crisis Appeal was launched in March by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) which comprises 13 member agencies, Tearfund being one.
In the four months since, £60 million has been raised by the DEC, from which Tearfund will receive a portion which is added to the £4 million raised by generous supporters like you.
DFID — the UK Department for International Development — have contributed £10 million to the DEC total via UK Aid Match and we would like to extend a special thanks to the British public for their incredible generosity!
Putting support into action
The famine status in two of South Sudan’s counties has been lifted — largely due to the assistance that has been provided as a result of the appeal. Hope and restoration is also being brought to men, women and children across Ethiopia, Somaliland and Kenya.
But there is much work to be done. Millions are still going hungry every day and Tearfund is working hard to ensure that the funding received is being spent where the needs are greatest. We’re working through partners in South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somaliland.
‘We’re so grateful to our supporters for donating towards our work in East Africa,’ says Andy Morgan, Deputy Head of East and Southern Africa Team.
‘This support is enabling us to do critical lifesaving work right now across these four countries. As the crisis response develops we hope to then support affected people in the long term to recover from the crisis as well as helping them to become more resilient to future crises.’
