CAFOD

Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal Update 2 | CAFOD

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• published: 21 Jun 2016
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Please donate now to our Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal http://cafod.org.uk/Give/Donate-to-Emergencies/Ethiopia-Food-Crisis-Appeal More than ten million Ethiopians face extreme hunger, because of two failed rainy seasons which has led to a devastating drought, fuelled by one of the strongest El Niño weather patterns on record. CAFOD’s local partners are tackling the effects of the drought, described as the worst seen in 30 years; getting life-saving food and clean water to some of the most vulnerable families in communities, who are going hungry. CAFOD's Nana Anto-Awuakye updates us on the Ethiopian drought, the food insecurity problems and the CAFOD appeal. Watch Nana's third update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pnkYBuqaM&feature;=youtu.be We are appealing for £3 million, as more than 10.2 million people across the country are in dire need of food, clean water and basic sanitation. Our country representative in Ethiopia, Patricia Wall, said: "Ethiopia faces a food shortage that has left millions hungry. The funding will allow us to escalate our on-going emergency response with our local partners, who are already on the frontline getting assistance to where it is needed most." “I can’t remember when we all last ate three meals in the day,” says mother of two Rahel. “The best I can do is for us to drink coffee and to munch on small pieces of bread.” Rahel and her daughters, eight and six years of age, live in the village of Sebeya, in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. She relies on the farming community for her casual labour, and one of the effects of her loss of income is that she isn’t able to buy basic food. Rahel has really struggled over the last year. “This last year has been the worst ever. I have little money or no money coming into the house. There has been no rain, no harvest; the ground has remained a desert, offering us nothing to collect.” Our partners are responding As the female head of her household, Rahel was identified by our local partner, the Catholic Diocese of Adigrat - ADCS - as someone who would benefit from a ‘cash for work’ scheme, through which she would be paid to do work that suited her skills and ability. Rahel has spent the last month preparing a small local dam, which will collect water from the mountain for her community to use. Rahel uses her wages to buy food for her family. “It is better to do this work; I can’t keep asking neighbours and friends for help. It is also useful, preparing the dam to collect the rain water from the mountain, it will mean in future we won’t struggle so much to have water during difficult times.” Working with our local partners and Caritas sister agencies SCIAF and Trocaire, we are ready to scale up our emergency response work. “The infrastructure is in place and we are working with the full support of the Ethiopian government,” Patricia Wall said. “But without the funding we can only reach a fraction of those who need help.” Whatever you are able to donate, you are helping our local partners reach more vulnerable families. The Catholic community at the helm of our Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal Patricia went on to thank the Catholic community of England and Wales for their continued generosity and compassion: “Ordinary men, women and children in England and Wales are out working, supporting, fundraising, praying for the communities in Ethiopia. Because of this, we will be able to get more emergency aid to our partners quickly. They understand the communities they serve, and will be reaching the most vulnerable families.” Find out more about our Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal: http://cafod.org.uk/Give/Donate-to-Emergencies/Ethiopia-Food-Crisis-Appeal Read our Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal questions and answers: http://cafod.org.uk/News/Emergencies-news/Ethiopia-food-crisis-QA --- CAFOD works in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping people to tackle the poverty and injustice they face. We work wherever the need is greatest, with people of all faiths and none. Learn about CAFOD: http://www.cafod.org.uk/