CAFOD in Kenya

As we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, we may reflect upon the message of Anthony Muheria, Bishop of Kitui Diocese, Kenya as he meets some of those people CAFOD is helping in his Diocese and asks ‘not for sympathy, but to accompany us, as part of one communion’.

‘Last year I got nothing, no harvest at all. It was the same the two years before that as well’, says Mutindi Maithya, a farmer and mother of seven children; hers is one of the many families whose land is barren after four long years without rain. Walking around Mutindi’s home, miles and miles of fields that should be full of crops are instead dry and dusty. Mirroring the bare earth, in humanitarian maps, this distressed Diocese is now painted a glaring warning red, indicating ‘acute food crisis’. ‘Every year I’ve planted; beans, maize and mung beans. It rained a bit, but then it stopped, and nothing grew,’ another farmer, Mutuo David tells us. The near total crop failure has left families facing chronic hunger without food to eat or produce to sell to earn money. ‘The communities in my Diocese, continued Bishop Muheria, ‘have worked hard on their farms, they are very resilient, but they have not seen the fruits of their work. They keep praying for rains and harvest. By now people should have given up, but thanks be to God they haven’t’. Mutindi explains the situation starkly, ‘Everything I have is from the Diocese, especially food. The Church couldn’t leave me because without it, I know I would die. I’m relying on you.’

High risk of sickness

In crisis situations like these, the vulnerable in society are at high risk of sickness, and even death. Mutindi and Mutuo are both living with HIV, and are widowed. CAFOD in partnership with the Diocese of Kitui is supporting them and many others with emergency food rations of maize, beans and cooking oil. Our partnership has helped 2,000 HIV positive children and orphans, and 3,000 vulnerable adults, such as mums with young babies, the elderly and those living with HIV.

Along with the severe lack of food is the thirst that comes from lack of water. Women are walking up to six miles every day to collect water. In desperation some families are turning to using dirty water. The Diocese has seen fatal outbreaks of cholera – only last week the Catholic hospital in Mutomo treated 200 cases of cholera, and reported one needless death. Meanwhile, at the Catholic Mission Hospital in Muthale, the matron, Anne Mueni Nyange, is overwhelmed by the 270 children she is treating for malnutrition. She tells me about baby Frieda: ‘Frieda is nine months old. She came in weighing 11 pounds, but she should be weighing more like 16 pounds. Her mother didn’t even know, it was when we weighed the baby we realised she was weak from malnourishment. Frieda is still being fed breast milk, but because her mother is not getting enough to eat, the milk is not nutritious. I’ve been a nurse here for 17 years and I would say it’s never been bad like this.’ The droughts in this area are increasing in frequency. Now the land, the people and the animals have no time to recover from one failed season to the next. This constant wheel of natural disaster has worn away people’s ability to cope and is forcing people into chronic poverty.

Mutindi tells us, ‘I was born in this area. A long time ago the rain was very successful here, it was enough. Now there are many droughts and no rain. People were so disappointed; we had done our work, prepared the farms, but the rain didn’t come. We wondered, ‘have we done something wrong to God?”

A gloomy picture

A World Bank study released in June confirmed that Kenya is one of the top 12 countries that will be hit hardest by longer droughts coming more often as a result of climate change. And the picture is gloomy across many other parts of Africa. The UN Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that, within ten years, harvests across Africa could be fifty percent less because of droughts, and an additional 160 million Africans will lack access to water.

Bishop Muheria explains, ‘By now people should have given up, but thanks be to God they haven’t. We at the Diocese of Kitui are trying to pioneer new initiatives so that next time they can be successful against the odds. I believe the emphasis should be on returning back to the environment what we’ve taken from it to serve our economic interests. We thank God that people are not dying because of the vital food aid that is finally being provided. But what we ask is not for sympathy, but to accompany us, as part of one communion.Help us grow from the crisis. That will be as encouraging as the handouts, because we need a lot of prayer, technology and ideas for long term solutions to this challenge. Some might see the October rains as a ray of hope, but because of the predicted ‘El Nino’ weather phenomenon, these rains will be heavy, and may not be the blessing to farmers it seems, as heavy downpours will wash away top soil, and increase the spread of diseases such as cholera. In short, people can’t eat rain. Even if they plant now, the harvest will be up to three months away, leaving a long gap where hungry families will still be in desperate need of our help with food aid.’ Farmer Mutuo David sums up the struggle for survival. She says ‘We will stop all other work to get the first crop in, so in fact the time between now and the harvest will be the hungriest of all.’

Please keep the people of Kenya in your prayers at this very difficult time. All of us here at CAFOD want to say a huge thank you to all those of you who have supported our Haiti appeal. Thanks to you, it raised over £4m.

Can you help CAFOD to help the people living in a drought stricken part of Kenya? Why not organise a parish fundraising evening, sponsored walk or join in with one of the following:

CAFOD and Christian Aid Humber Bridge Walk, Saturday 8th May

Middlesbrough 5K Run, Sunday 16th May

Middlesbrough 10K Run, Sunday 5th September

Great North Run, Sunday 19th September

Please don’t forget to put 3.00 pm, Sunday 3rd October in your diary. It’s the date of Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of CAFOD’s Fast Day. Main celebrant: Mgr Gerard Dasey VG. Fr Jim O’Keefe will preach the homily. Come along and help us fill the Cathedral.

Photograph

Mutindi Maithya with her youngest child. A farmer and mother of seven, she is one of many families whose land is barren after four long years without rain (CAFOD).