ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has donated $5,000 to alleviate what the Baptist Convention of Kenya has called a “serious hunger disaster” in northern Kenya.
The human needs board of the Baptist Convention of Kenya asked the Fellowship to help support families in the Pokot and Turkana districts of northern Kenya. The Fellowship's contribution will provide 25 families with food for six months from October to March.
The famine was spurred by lack of rain, particularly in the northern and eastern regions, according to Kenya-based Sam Harrell, one of CBF's Global Missions field personnel. Drought prevented this season's crops from maturing, and animals don't have sufficient grazing, Harrell said.
“The food we will give is a stop-gap measure to assist those in the
communities who are at greatest risk during this famine situation,” he said.
This donation is one in a string of relief donations the Fellowship has distributed this fall, including several for hurricane relief.
“Kenya's situation is very destructive because it is systemic and will actually kill more people than all the hurricanes we have faced this summer,” said David Harding, the Fellowship's international coordinator for emergency response and transformational development.
Global acute child malnutrition (GAM) rates in Kenya are steadily rising, according to a ReliefWeb report. The northern area of Mandera had an August GAM rating of 26 percent, well over the emergency threshold of 15 percent set by the World Health Organization.
Conditions will likely worsen for some areas as meteorologists don't anticipate significant rain increases, Harrell said.
“The $5,000 is surely not enough. However, it will be greatly appreciated and certainly at least part of a solution,” Harrell said.
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