Families struggling to feed their children

Adanech and her husband are struggling to feed their children as a result of the East Africa drought. See below for her story. Photo: Plan/Elias Asmare

A generation of children in East Africa face a lasting legacy of extreme hardship from the drought and issues afflicting the region.

An estimated 10 million people need food aid across the region, many of them mothers and children and the long-term impact could affect them for years to come.

Plan International Australia chief executive Ian Wishart has just returned from the region.

"What we are seeing at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is just the tip of the problem," says Mr Wishart. "The sight of thousands of new people arriving every day is distressing, but there are many millions of people throughout the region without enough food for themselves or their children.

"We've been working with families to prepare for annual drought – but this year is different. Combinations of persistent failed rains, dwindling resources, conflict and rising food prices have created the perfect storm."

Battling hunger is hard enough, but the crisis is also starting to affect many other areas of life for children – splitting up families, forcing them to move areas and forcing parents to pull their children out of school.

Your donation will help Plan respond quickly to this crisis.

The latest reports from Plan staff in Kenya suggest that many schools, which often offer children their only main source of meals, are rapidly running out of food.

"In addition to the long-term physical impacts of malnutrition upon children's physical and cognitive development, the social impact of disrupted schooling and massive upheaval are worrying for many children," said Mr Wishart.

"The problems these children are facing are not remotely of their making, but they are the vulnerable ones who find themselves in the frontline – and if we don’t intervene soon, the impact will linger for a lifetime.”

Plan's work has been focusing for some time on supplementary feeding programs for children at schools and nutrition centres, and long-term programs have focused on building the resilience of communities so they can cope better with climate change and drought.
Projects target land use and soil erosion problems with livelihoods projects, reforestation projects and water, seed, fertilizer and livestock support.

However, the current situation across eastern Africa is unprecedented. Plan is urging the international community to work with East African governments to find long-term sustainable solutions to this continuing and worsening problem.

Plan is already responding in Ethiopia and South Sudan, and will soon be responding in Kenya.

Find out more about what Plan is doing to support children affected by the food crisis, and support our work with a donation to the East Africa Drought Appeal – Children in Crisis.

Families struggling to feed their children

Adanech, 39, lives in the Shebadino area of Ethiopia, with her husband and five children.

"My family depends on farming. We have a small plot of land where we grow maize. We have sweet potato too. I live with my husband and my two sons and three daughters. One of my older daughters is sponsored by Plan.

"My youngest daughter is only 7 months old. People from the nearby health clinic came to our village and told everyone who was very thin and unwell to come to the clinic. I went, and they told me that I have to start attending the centre as I am struggling to breastfeed as I'm so thin.

"I don't have enough food to even feed myself. I'm dry - my baby can't get enough milk. If I stop feeding my baby I know she will die - so I don't have any option but to keep trying. I have to get food so I can feed my baby. I am getting worse and worse, I know that, but I want my baby to survive.

"We are facing this food shortage because we had a long dry season. We lost almost everything that we normally produce. During a normal harvest, we'd have fresh maize to eat right now. But we have nothing.

"My husband is working in the nearby town as a labourer to make some money. In the evening he buys some food and we depend on that. He brings a kind of bread, made from false banana. It's the only thing we eat. We have no variety at all, and this is having a big effect on myself and my children.

"We don't have any livestock now. We had to sell our only ewe. Plan had given us the animal as we live in a community where Plan runs programmes. Normally we sell coffee at this time to make money. But this year we have no crop to sell. So we were forced to sell the ewe to buy food for our family.

“The maize plants are growing now, but they are far behind the normal season. We are going to be dealing with these food problems until September at least, when we hope we can harvest this maize and feed the family.

“I wish I had a cow that produced milk, so I could feed my young children. There is grass here. If I had a cow, I could feed the cow and get milk. If I had a cow, I could change the life of my family."

You can help provide relief to families like Adanech’s – donate to the East Africa Drought Appeal now.