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Islamic Relief Staff Member Visits Malawi and Kenya

In April 2006, Shamiq Hussain, Islamic Relief staff member from Buena Park, CA, traveled along with a worldwide delegation of Islamic Relief partner offices to assess the situation of the food crisis in Malawi, and the Mandera region of Kenya.

Click here to read Shamiq's first-hand account of his visit.

Over 10 Million People in Kenya, Malawi, and Ethiopia in Need of Food Assistance

Background

More than 30 million people are going hungry across Africa from the west, to the horn and the south, says the UN’s World Food Program. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is warning that 27 sub-Saharan countries now need help, out of which, 15 countries are in need of immediate assistance. 

Over 3.5 million in Kenya, 4.9 million in Malawi, and 1.7 million in Ethiopia are in desperate need of food assistance due to the current drought and depletion of food resources.

Kenya

• Estimated population: 34 million
• Projected number needing food aid: 3.5 million

Key underlying reasons:
• Partial drought, mostly in north
• Inefficient food distribution

“Many Kenyans – facing a fifth consecutive season of failed or poor rains - are already living on the edge and unless donors respond immediately, we fear for the worst..”
- United Nations World Food Program Country Director Tesema Negash

Inadequate rainfall in 2005 resulted in the total failure of crops in many places in Kenya. Now, over 3.5 million people, including over 500,000 children, are facing starvation.

Islamic Relief is focusing its efforts in the northeastern Mandera district of Kenya. Mandera is a semi-arid area, prone to persistent drought and floods. The current drought has greatly worsened the already precarious situation in Mandera, where pastoralists rely on livestock for their livelihoods.

Impact in Mandera

• One of the worst affected areas by the famine, with over 150,000 people at risk
• 75% of households are suffering from severe food shortages
• 40% of households are suffering from a severe water shortage crisis
• 20% - 30% livestock has already died, and the remaining livestock are in weak conditions
• Households have lost entire herds
• Pastoralists have exhausted all their drought coping strategies
• Impact on Vulnerable Groups (Widows, Orphans, Disabled)

Most vulnerable category of the pastoralists (the elderly, lactating mothers, children and disabled people) have been abandoned in the process of migration, and are suffering from high levels of malnutrition.

Emergency Projects:

1. Clean Drinking Water

• Provision of clean drinking water to 10 fixed distribution centers in Mandera, through providing 5 tankers. Each tanker will cover 2 centers daily, for a period of 3 months. Over a period of three months, 13.5 million liters of drinking water will be distributed.

2. Health and Nutrition

The goal is to reduce mortality and morbidity associated with severe malnutrition in the Mandera district through the provision of quality care and nutritious food, and follow up of moderately malnourished children and lactating mothers at the community level.

• Provision of immediate free access to the malnourished children and their families to quality supplementary and therapeutic feeding programs in the Mandera district.
• Increased nutrition awareness amongst the Mandera population. This activity will target malnourished children, lactating and pregnant women and elderly people, through:
o 10 supplementary feeding centers and 1 therapeutic feeding center
o Community outreach through mobile nutritional monitoring teams
o Education regarding community health

"The situation in Mandera is very desperate. Small children are already dying from starvation. There is urgent need for water and food - the basics which make the difference between life and death."
- Mohammed Adan, Islamic Relief Kenya

Malawi

• Estimated population: 12.8 million
• Projected number needing food aid: 4.9 million

Key underlying reasons:
• Drought in parts
• High food prices
• HIV/AIDS

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates 4.9 million people are in need of immediate food assistance in Malawi.

The humanitarian situation in Malawi remains very serious due to a deadly combination of chronic poverty, bad weather conditions, poor harvest, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and an outbreak of cholera.

The current crisis is due primarily to years of successive droughts. Although Malawi has one of the largest lakes in all of Africa, irrigation methods are limited and changing climates and delayed rains have decimated the largely agrarian economy.

Agriculture continues to occupy a strategic importance in the economy of Malawi and is considered the backbone of the Malawian economy. Over 80% of the Malawian population living in rural areas derives their livelihood from agriculture, directly or indirectly. Agricultural production is heavily dependent on rainfall with relatively few irrigation systems for both large scale and small scale production. As a result, poverty in Malawi is widespread, deep and severe.

Islamic Relief's emergency projects in Malawi include distribution of food and clean water. In addition, Islamic Relief staff will be distributing seeds for planting vegetation to address the long-term needs of the victims of the famine.

Islamic Relief's Emergency Appeal

Islamic Relief has allocated an initial budget of $250,000 and is targeting $1.2 million to provide emergency assistance for the starving populations in Kenya and Malawi. Islamic Relief has previously assisted the people of Malawi during the 2002 food crisis, and has a full-time office in Mandera, in northeastern Kenya.

Islamic Relief staff in Kenya and Malawi will continue to monitor the situation on the ground, and respond to the needs of the victims.

Ethiopia

• Estimated population: 77 million
• Projected number needing food aid: 1.7 million

Key underlying reasons:

• Drought
• Refugees
• High food prices
• Overpopulation

• Over 1.5 million people are affected by the drought in the Liben and Afder zones of the Somali region of Ethiopia (1.7 million across the country)
• Water sources have dried up, and the drought has led to severe losses of livestock
• Even before this current crisis, two-thirds Ethiopian children continue to suffer from malnutrition, and less than one in four Ethiopians has access to clean drinking water

Islamic Relief’s initial emergency activities in the Liben and Afder zones in the Somali District include:

• 6 water tankers have been utilized to distribute water in Charatti and Hargelle

Background

Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent country, in addition to being one of the world's poorest countries. Almost half of its population lives well below the poverty line and approximately 7 million Ethiopians cannot produce enough food for themselves.

Ethiopia depends on agriculture, but recurring droughts over the past 30 years have left its farmers struggling to provide enough food for the country.

Violent changes in government and conflicts with neighboring countries have also created instability and poverty. The average Ethiopian now lives on a mere 25 cents a day.

Among the most destitute communities are nomads in Ethiopia’s Somali region. The region in the southeast of Ethiopia is populated by 4-5 million ethnic Somalis and has been largely neglected.

Rains have failed in the Somali region since 2003, and about 85% of the region’s people depend entirely on their livestock for survival. The region is also home to tens of thousands of refugees who entered Ethiopia to escape a ten-year conflict in Somalia.

The Somali region is made up of 52 districts, and according to the Ethiopian government the people in 50 of these districts require emergency support to help them survive.

Islamic Relief established a permanent location in Ethiopia in January 2004 and began working in the Somali region of Ethiopia. In addition to its current emergency projects for the victims of the food crisis, Islamic Relief is working with local communities to improve education, healthcare, and water and sanitation.

Islamic Relief in Africa

Islamic Relief was founded in 1984 in response to the famine in Africa and the continent has special historical significance for our organization. Throughout the years, we have made great efforts to develop educational, health and nutrition, income generation, and water and sanitation facilities in some of the remotest parts of this vulnerable land. The need for humanitarian aid remains and Islamic Relief’s commitment to Africa has stayed firm and undiminished.

Since 2004, Islamic Relief has been helping the victims of the refugee crisis in Darfur, Sudan, as well as the victims of the food crisis in Niger and Mali. Islamic Relief’s ongoing projects to assist victims of the food crisis in Niger and Mali aim to assist over one million people with food and medical aid. In Darfur, Islamic Relief has been aiding refugees and displaced people with food, shelter, education, and medical aid.

In Africa, Islamic Relief currently has permanent locations in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Sudan and South Africa. In addition, we have carried out extensive emergency relief projects in Malawi.