Running out of time in Ethiopia - Part One

Dr. Unni Krishnan with local government officials at a Plan supported food distrib centre in Ethiopia.(Photo: Plan/Tamiru Legesse).

Plan's Disaster Response Policy Coordinator, Dr. Unni Krishnan, reports from Ethiopia.

Today was a difficult day, a disturbing day.

We are en route to the Arsi zone in central Ethiopia where Plan is setting up relief response for the current food crisis and drought. We stopped in a place called Edo - in one of the worst affected areas of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia.

When you first arrive, the landscape looks green and we seem to be surrounded by fields and plantations full of crops. Your immediate thought is: 'So what is the problem here? Are people really going hungry?'

Green drought

But it is very deceptive. On closer inspection, they are false crops – because the rains never came, they failed and are inedible, useless. It's a phenomena known as ‘green drought' and it is just as treacherous.

We arrive at a small compound of a few buildings. There are military present. At the last round of food distribution (back at the start of July) there were hundreds of people and children here. But now there is no point. The stores which were holding food now have nothing but a few sacks of maize and grain.

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No food

That is all that is left. It's not that food is running out – it has run out. The cupboard is empty. What we are now running out of is time.

We meet a mother of five children, Meselech - she is breast-feeding her 4-month-old baby, Abraham. Or rather, trying to. It is desperate to witness and distressing.

To breast-feed as a mother you need enough food for two people, as the local saying goes - but she doesn't have remotely enough for one person.

Severely malnourished

She looks tired, exhausted. She struggles to feed Abraham. He cries constantly. And after, he cannot settle - cannot sleep.

The health clinics have said three of her children are severely malnourished. So, she is one of the people receiving food materials as part of a targeted supplementary feeding program - a life-line relief in food crisis situations.

The last time she received food she was given 22.5 kg of maize, 4.5 kg of  beans and 0.9 litres of cooking oil. The volume of food materials was calculated based on the number of diagnosed malnourished children. But the supply didn't last long. No doubt she was trying to feed her entire family and maybe others on this ration.

Struggling to survive

It is human nature. If you or I were starving, our children starving, you wouldn't try and save food and give only to a few. For those who are struggling for a meal a day, is there a difference between severely malnourished or malnourished? There isn't much.

Nutrition and food can be technical subjects. However, for mothers like Meselech who are struggling to feed her children, hunger has a simple explanation. Their children can't walk, play or even sleep.

Find out more about the East Africa Food Crisis.

Please support our urgent relief work in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sundan by making a donation today.