Help deliver lifesaving nutrition and safe water to girls in crisis
Many communities around the world are experiencing the most severe food and water shortage seen in almost 40 years. Sadly, it is women and girls who are disproportionately affected in times of drought.
Children deserve to go to bed with full stomachs and dreams for their futures
Families in places like Kenya are reeling from the effects of five consecutive failed rainy seasons.
Crops have failed, livestock has died and millions of people — including children — are going to bed hungry every night.
This is the most severe food and water shortage we’ve seen in more than 40 years. And it is women and girls who are paying the biggest price.
While other girls go to school and play games of make believe with their friends, crisis has forced eight-year-old Arare to mature beyond her years.
Every day, she straps her baby brother onto her back and walks around the village, trying to stop him from crying.
He’s hungry. We are all hungry.Despite being a child herself, Arare is responsible for looking after her five younger siblings while her parents try to find them something to eat.
“Their father has been away for months,” says Arare’s mother, Gunyo. “He keeps moving with the livestock in search of food. I collect firewood to sell to get money for food and water.”
In the evenings, Arare and her brothers and sisters eagerly await their mother’s return, hopeful she has been successful that day and managed to make enough money to buy a little food.
But sadly, there is never much for Arare and her siblings.
It is unfathomable that children like Arare are faced with such devastating challenges which can change the course of their life. Will you please donate today to support girls Arare and her family to survive food and water shortages?
Fed last and fed less. When food and water are in short supply, it is girls like Arare who endure the worst hardship. Donate now.
What we’re doing to help girls in crisis
Plan International has been actively responding to the Global Hunger Crisis for the past year. It has been declared a Red Alert Crisis — our highest level of urgent humanitarian response.
To help us understand where the most urgent need for support is required, we complete a rapid assessment in each community. This helps us to determine who is most vulnerable and what their most pressing needs are.
For some drought effected communities, this means investing in community dams and boreholes or repairing existing water sources in order to get them fresh water. For others, it is creating community gardens and teaching people how to grow drought-resistant crops.
There are also school feedings programs, where children are given hot lunches every day, so their parents are forced to withdraw them from school and they can continue their education.
For many families, the most pressing need is food. We offer them cash vouchers and rations like rice, beans, vegetable oil and salt. There is a particular focus on including girls and women in this process, to reduce the likelihood of violence they may face.
Our response is ongoing and thanks to the generosity of people like you, countless families have been able to survive the food and water shortage. But the scale and severity of this crisis is growing. We urgently need your support to continue to support girls and their families in places like Kenya.