Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Special Appeal: FOOD EMERGENCY

Up to 20 million people in East Africa are at risk of severe hunger according to the UN's World Food Programme, and acute malnutrition in children is increasing. Sauti Moja’s local partners in Kenya and Tanzania know that it’s getting much worse and plead for more help!

 This current food crisis grew out of three, poor rainy seasons. This year, we have been providing food assistance for up to 372 vulnerable households with the expectation that this need would reduce with the ‘long rains’ of April and May. But, again, there was not enough rain for either crop harvest or enough forage growth for livestock – thousand of livestock have died.  A bad situation for the most vulnerable is now desperate for most, as there is no hope for recovery until after the October-November ‘short rains’.

 Sauti Moja and our partners have prioritized saving lives, so have scaled back and delayed some project activities to reassign some undesignated funds to food assistance for the most vulnerable in their communities, but we need more. Our target is $114,000 to help feed 576 hungry households for July to December (~$33/mo/household). Recipients include people displaced by conflict and who lost land and livestock; elderly with no family support; families affected by AIDS and moms needing this food to take ARVs for their survival; disabled children, orphans and their caregivers; widows who are active in restoring peace to their communities; and female-headed households identified by community leaders as the most vulnerable.

There are so many legitimate needs in the World to which one should respond, but as a member of the Sauti Moja Community, I hope that you are able to top-up your regular giving to address this hunger crisis in the communities that you are already helping. (Your regular giving still enables us to continue important educational programs, and after the rains, will provide funds for livelihood recovery – livestock replacements, plowing and crop inputs, small business loans, etc.)

 Sincerely thanking you for considering this need,

Tim Wright

Please follow this link and DONATE TODAY AT  www.sautimoja.org/donate.html

 

Sometimes, we wonder what displaced people who are grieving conflict and drought, as well as hungry and fearful about the future, could be thankful for?  Kule is an example, as her family was chased from their home and farm to the desert, where she has no work, but yet, is sole caregiver for an elderly husband and six children. Kule came to our partner’s office to express thanks to God for touching the people who provide help, and to the staff who sat with her in the darkest time, listened to her fears and needs, and provided food assistance and shelter support. Kule’s expression of thanks is to the whole Sauti Moja Community who support vulnerable moms, like herself. (Be assured that, once the rains come, we will not forget Kule. She and others will be helped with livelihood recovery in order to become food secure.)

 

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