Kenya - World Hunger Fund
- Sep 29, 2009 - 1 -
A serious lack of rain and post-election violence has many in East Africa literally at death’s door. Yet because many Southern Baptists care enough to give to the World Hunger Fund, where every dollar donated makes it to the mission field, SBC missionaries are providing physical and spiritual support for those in need in the U.S. and around the world.
According to a July 10, 2009 Baptist Press report, severe hunger is gripping the lives of those who live in the African countryside from the Maasai Mara wildlife reserve in Kenya to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania– a total of approximately 11,700 square miles.
“The problem is that there is no grass,” said Bob Calvert, an International Mission Board missionary, in the press report. “There is not enough water, not enough rain.”
Calvert said as he waited on relief supplies, he had been collecting and taking grass clippings from around Nairobi, where he lives, out to the villagers to feed their livestock.
Nearly $500,000 worth of flour and cooking fat was provided to families in the area between May and July of this year. The basic foodstuffs, provided through Southern Baptists’ gifts to the World Hunger Fund, was enough to feed 180,000 people for one month–at a cost of $2.70 each
“These areas of Kenya have not had rain since 2007. There simply is no grass. No grass means no food for the animals. Since Maasai depend almost entirely on their animals, some people began to die–mostly older Maasai,” Calvert explained in a related Baptist Press story.
While the Maasai, who are a semi-nomadic people in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, live on semi-arid and arid lands, conditions are now beyond that with which even they can contend.
“This past 12-month period has seen exceptionally little rain. What complicates the problem is the tribal groups, who live in what are normally dry areas, live with little to no margins in their lives for drought events. There are no reserves of either food grains or stored water to use during a drought," added Mark Hatfield, who with his wife Susan directs relief and agricultural development work in Sub-Saharan Africa on behalf of Southern Baptists.
While livestock, such as cattle, goats and sheep, are the primary source of income for the Maasai, drought conditions in the area left their herds emaciated. The condition of their animals meant they could not be sold and the Maasai lost the funds they would typically use to purchase food, Calvert said.
Other hunger relief projects in Kenya include the provision of maize, dried red beans and cooking fat from local vendors to starving Samburu people, a people group somewhat related to the Maasai. The project fed 4,800 people for a month at a cost of only $5.11 per person.
Southern Baptists’ contributions to the World Hunger Fund have allowed the Hatfields to oversee the distribution of nearly $1.1 million relief for Kenyans so far in 2009 from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.
While Southern Baptists have been generous in their gifts to the Convention’s World Hunger Fund, giving has been trending downward over the past five years, while need¬–internationally and domestically–has been growing.
Every Southern Baptist can be part of the solution by giving to the World Hunger Fund, where every dime that is given is used to provide food and agricultural support and training to people in need. Visit worldhungerfund.com to learn how you can be involved in these life-saving projects.
Related stories: Starvation continues to stalk millions of Maasai in Kenya Amid Kenya's drought, hunger fund feeds thousands Still alive, Samburu give thanks to God
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1 On Oct 6th, 2009, at 5:03pm, Mike Painter wrote:
I am so concerned that the largest problem is that the systematic eradicating of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the major problem in all of the world and this is just a result of that. We are missionaries in Haiti and too many just play with the Gospel. This needs to be a major prayer concern as we are not fighting flesh and blood but a spiritual enemy. I am not making light of this problem but what good does it do to feed someone and allowing him to eventually end up in hell.