DROUGHT AND FAMINE
31-10-2022 by Freddie del Curatolo
The Italian flag of solidarity on the Kenyan coast often flies under the auspices of the NGO Karibuni Onlus. The association, which for nearly two decades has been working to lay the foundations for sustainable and conscious growth of the inland population, especially in the districts of Malindi and Magarini, is as involved as anyone who works in social work in this country and has a modicum of conscience, in doing what it can to counter the food emergency that the prolonged drought is producing, putting the lives of children, the elderly and pregnant or lactating women in particular at risk. According to data recently transmitted by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), at least 10 counties are on severe drought alert and another 10 may be soon if there is no rainfall in the coming weeks. In these regions, 1 in 3 children are at serious risk of being as likely to starve to death as to die of disease. The report also notes that the number of people who are suffering is increasing day by day: 942,000 children under five need treatment for acute malnutrition, up from 884,454 in August. In addition, 134,000 pregnant and lactating women need treatment for acute malnutrition, up from 115,725 in August.
Last Friday, Karibuni at its farm in Langobaya, organized an unprecedented food distribution for a non-profit organization in and around Malindi: one thousand families received foodstuffs, and this event was in addition to what the association chaired by Gianfranco Ranieri of Como, Italy, is doing in schools in the area with daily donations of meals in canteens. Thanks to sponsors familiar with Karibuni's work and many private individuals, the nonprofit seeks to unite three important goals: to support with basic nourishment (and even something more, since the Langobaya farm can provide eggs and once a week chicken, a rare commodity for the poor local people) pupils, to free their families from the burden of having to support their children studying on food, and to entice young people to study and attend school. In the hinterland of Kilifi, there is a near 50 percent defection of 6- to 14-year-olds who, instead of going to school, go into the forests to forage for food. Some are poisoning themselves by eating inedible berries and roots. This is the situation, and government aid, scattered across the 20 counties in need of intervention, however laudable (better than nothing, they say) is not enough.
In the coming weeks we at Malindikenya.net will also, through an initiative aimed at our readers, try to make a contribution to support food distribution in Karibuni.
SOLIDARITY
by Leni Frau
The most important and organized Italian solidarity reality of the Kenyan coast, Karibuni Onlus, has ...
EMERGENCY
by Freddie del Curatolo
The stranglehold of hunger on Kenya and especially in its extremes, from the desert north to the savannah...
SOLIDARITY
by redazione
Hard times for families in the Malindi hinterland, as in many other areas of Kenya, arisen from the prolonged drought and scourge by the rise in subsistence food prices.
Last Saturday, an initiative of solidarity came from the farm of...
SOLIDARITY
by redazione
We launched the appeal on our portal last 21 July: the children of the Malindi hinterland, like many...
SOLIDARITY
by Freddie del Curatolo
Often our vision of possible and constructive solidarity in Kenya matches that of ...
INIZIATIVE
by redazione
At this time when solidarity with the Kenyan people is particularly concerned with the food emergency caused by...
EDUCATION
by redazione
The social work of Karibuni Onlus in the Malindi inland never stops, thanks to the generosity of the Italians.
The new "Tiziana Nursery School" in Langobaya was delivered yesterday to the local authorities.
INITIATIVES
by redazione
What better place than the farm, the Langobaya "shamba" of the Italian nonprofit Karibuni, for a ceremony to...
EVENTS
by Leni Frau
Fifteen years of commitment for the district of Malindi, fifteen years of seriousness and Italian...
SOLIDARITY
by redazione
In this autumn of second bilateral waves, which unfortunately are affecting both Italy and ...
SOLIDARITY
by redazione
The most important Italian charity on the Kenyan coast, Karibuni Onlus, has involved the Lavazza...
NEWS
by Freddie del Curatolo
Reforesting for the climate and at the same time obviate the hunger and vitamin deficiency of thousands...
SOLIDARITY
by Freddie del Curatolo
The rising cost of living, in Kenya, affects not only hunger, decreasing the need for meals and the meals...