July 23, 2011 - The "F" Word

Three years and almost eight months after moving to Kenya, Life in Nairobi is now officially 500 blogs old. 500 blogs!  Wow!  I thought it most appropriate for our 500th blog to take Life in Nairobi back to its roots and write a bit about what's going on in East Africa right now, particularly because it is so relevant in Kristoffer's work, which is the reason we live in Kenya in the first place.*

Unfortunately, the news isn't good.  The past two rainy seasons in Kenya have failed, leading to a devastating lack of crops which provide food throughout the Horn of Africa (HOA consists of Kenya, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia), in addition to those countries also having a severe drought of their own.  The drought facing HOA is thought to be the worst in 60 years, and comes just after recovery from a drought in 2008, which followed the post-election crisis in Kenya.  Let's face it, times have been tough in Kenya since we got here.  There are 11.3 million affected by hunger in HOA right now.  

The food crisis in Somalia is so dire, in fact, that the UN officially declared a famine in two parts of the war-torn country (believed by many to be the least stable country in the world).  For the word famine to be used, there have to  be three criteria present:

• acute malnutrition rates among children exceed 30%
• more than 2 people per 10,000 die per day
• people are not able to access food and other basic necessities

Because the situation is so severe in Somalia, Somalis are walking over the border into Kenya to the Dadaab refugee camp (the largest refugee camp in the world).  These people are fleeing some combination of high oil and food prices, lack of water and political conflict/violence.  When we arrived in Kenya there were 200 people crossing the border into Kenya which was a record high at the time; the latest numbers from the UN indicate that now 1,400 people walk into Kenya from Somalia everyday.  Of course Kenya is also facing the drought and high food prices/lack of food...but the refugee camp offers some hope for basic assistance and so the Somalis keep coming.

Here is a bit of an overview, if you care to watch:

In the ways that matter most, our daily life is not that affected.  We do sometimes get rain in Nairobi; our altitude helps us there. And, of course, we can afford to buy food, even if prices have gone up, and we drink bottled water so we are not relying on the water that falls from the sky to meet our basic, immediate needs.  But our household staff feel rising costs deeply; the maize flour they buy to make ugali (a staple Kenyan food) has doubled.  Because 80% of Kenya's electricity is hydropower we are having more frequent power cuts now.  There is a "run" on sugar, because a Kenyan diet consists of so much sugar that Kenyans started buying it all up out of fear that prices will go up too high or that the supply will disappear altogether.  Mostly, we feel the desperation in the country.  When people are desperate there tends to be rising crime, which holds true here as well.  As a result, we are extra cautious when we are out and about, and we really don't go out much at night (when we do, we don't go far).

Kristoffer does not work in the emergency section of the World Food Programme (obviously, emergency is their biggest mandate as the largest humanitarian aid agency in the world), but the entire country office is very busy trying to provide aid.  Kristoffer works in school feeding and usually children are not fed during school holiday breaks.  To help fight the effects of the hunger crisis, school feeding will now take place in targeted areas during the holiday (end July-early September), so even though he is not "in" emergency, his development unit is still called to help in some way.  

Kristoffer was actually contacted by the very small WFP office in Copenhagen and asked if he could be the "eyes and ears" for Denmark in terms of the situation on the ground here.  He gave a live interview on the Danish national news about 10 days ago which, we have heard from some family and friends, made quite an impact.  

I am not trying to make a shameless pitch for WFP, but right now they are facing a 40% shortfall in their ability to meet the needs of the people most severely affected by this food crisis and donating to WFP is actually the fastest way possible that you can help make a difference.  If you would like to donate and are in a position to do so, please visit here to donate funds which will help get food to HOA as soon as possible.

When facing one "f" word (famine), it is appropriate to rely a bit on another "f" word (faith) to get through the crisis.  In addition to dollars for food, affected people in the Horn of Africa need prayers to help them deal with extreme conditions and suffering that have no end in sight.  It is also, once again, time to count our own blessings.  

LMW

*I know this blog started out being about our daily life in Nairobi, the interesting situations and challenges we faced upon moving here.  That it has become almost entirely about our family - specifically the ins and outs of Grace and Noah - was completely unplanned (remember: when we moved here we had no intention of having children while we lived here!).  While Kristoffer has access to the real Kenya and has travelled throughout the country, my entire life as a stay at home mom here takes place in a 10 mile radius around our house (if that).  If he had time, he could write really interesting blogs about the work he does, the people he meets, and the things he sees.  But since he doesn't have that time, I can really only write about what I know, and what I know is motherhood.  Sorry if that came (or comes) as a disappointment to anyone following the blog.  Writing about the kids is both a survival mechanism and hobby for me, and I don't think that will change any time soon.  But, at 500 blogs old I think I will try a little bit harder to share more of "Kenya" when the chances arise.