Malnutrition

Caritas project brings water to drought-stricken community in Ethiopia

By David Snyder  His thinning white hair dyed orange in the traditional local style, Aden Esse Kan stands amid the swirling dust clouds of eastern Ethiopia, eager to talk about the drought that now plagues this region. An elder in the village of Togo Wuchale, a dusty half hour drive from the town of Jijiga, ...

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Hunger in Kenya and how to stop it

Hunger in Kenya and how to stop it

The land is barren, the animals are dead, the people are starving. This is one face of northern Kenya in July 2011. “The famine started last year,” says Ellela from the village of Lokitaung. “There were no rains last year or this year. We have had drought for two years. If there are no people ...

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Ethiopia’s failing rains

Ethiopia’s failing rains

By David Snyder You are not expecting rain when you come to cover a drought. But that’s what I found when I stepped off of the plane here Sunday—and what I have seen each day since. Rain. Looking around at the green of the hillsides, you could easily be fooled about the real problems facing ...

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Helping Ethiopia through drought

Helping Ethiopia through drought

2011 is one of the worst droughts to hit East Africa and the Horn of Africa in living memory, including the east of Ethiopia. The local Caritas there is called the Hararghe Catholic Secretariat. It’s part of the national Caritas organisation (the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat), and is supported by a number of Caritas members from ...

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No time to lose says East Africa crisis summit

No time to lose says East Africa crisis summit

Caritas Internationalis Policy Director Martina Liebsch reports on a ministerial level meeting at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome about the drought in the Horn of Africa. The outgoing director of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Jacques Diouf had called the emergency meeting to address the food crisis in East Africa. The ...

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Drought in East Africa: Kenya’s cattle dying

Drought in East Africa: Kenya’s cattle dying

The rolling mountains in the distance are known locally as Louwa Le Ukinchu, or Cattle Mountains. For generations, people have travelled there to find water and pasture for their animals. But today, the streams that run down Cattle Mountains are dry. Most families in Isiolo, 300 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, are pastoralists: ...

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