CARE calls for funding for refugees and emergency assistance for drought affected
Nairobi, July 1, 2011. – The drought situation in the eastern Horn of Africa is deteriorating and it is unlikely to improve until next year, the humanitarian organisation CARE International warns. More than 1,000 Somali refugees are arriving daily at the refugee settlements of Daadab in northern Kenya. “The situation in Daadab is grave. Thousands of Somalis are walking for weeks to reach the camp, many of them arriving acutely malnourished, dehydrated, with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” says Stephen Gwynne-Vaughan, Country Director of CARE in Kenya.
Currently, almost 367,000 refugees have sought a safe haven in Daadab; it is the world’s largest refugee settlement.
The high influx of new refugees is putting severe pressure on already limited resources. CARE calls for more funding for refugees in Kenya. “Refugees need urgent support. They need food and water. At the same time, funding is needed to provide emergency assistance for Kenyans who are also affected by the current drought,” Gwynne-Vaughan says. “CARE is distributing food from the World Food Programme (WFP) to the refugees in Dadaab, however, without additional funding, the food aid pipeline for refugees will run dry by September.”
The Government of Kenya has declared the drought a national disaster. As a temporary emergency response, CARE Kenya was distributing emergency food rations of high energy biscuits to new arrivals at reception centres in the Daadab refugee settlements. But the nutritional status of the newly arrived refugees is poor, so now complete food aid baskets and household kits of blankets, water containers, sleeping mats, plastic sheets and kitchen sets are now being distributed. CARE is also trucking potable water and expanding existing water supply and distribution systems to meet needs of new arrivals.
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Longer term work
In addition to our immediate response in the face of this current food crisis CARE International emphasises the need to tackle the long-term, underlying causes of poverty. We have been present in the region for over 25 years and are helping families to break the cycle of hunger and to adapt to the changing climate and recurring droughts.
Our ongoing work in the region includes:
- Maintenance, protection and development of water points and wells.
- Working with women in Mandera, Kenya to revive traditional food preservation techniques.
- Vaccination of animals to prevent diseases breaking out as they congregate at remaining water points.
- Helping families have more consistent sources of income by supporting them in diversifying their work.
Read more stories from the East Africa Food Crisis:
Staff blog: Sabine Wilke, Emergency Media Officer in Dadaab - 12 August
Video: East Africa Crisis - CARE's response - 12 August
Slideshow: Dadaab refugee camp - 12 August
Somalia to Dadaab: a journey filled with danger - 10 August
Somalia: famine declared in three additional regions of South-Central - 5 August
Ethiopia: in a drought prevention pays - 26 July 2011
Staff Blog: Confusion and waiting in Dadaab, Kenya - 18 July 2011
Staff Blog: "The need for food assistance is increasing at alarming rate" - 16 July 2011
Urgency grows in the Horn of Africa - 15 July 2011
Slideshow: More pictures from the East Africa Food Crisis - 14 July 2011
Staff Blog: Horn of Africa Food Crisis - Dadaab refugee camp - 8 July 2011
Slideshow: East Africa Food Crisis - 8 July 2011
Horn of Africa: The most severe food crisis in the world - 1 July 2011
Reviving traditions to survice drought in Kenya - 3 June 2011
Ethiopia food shortage: The worst is yet to come - 25 May 2011
Press releases from the East Africa food Crisis:
Saving cattle can save lives in drought-stricken Africa - 29 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £30 million - 25 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £27 million - 22 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £20 million - 18 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £18 million - 18 July 2011
Violence against women doubles in giant East Africa refugee camp - 17 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £15 million - 14 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £13 million - 13 July 2011
DEC agencies prepare to scale up work in Somalia - 13 July 2011
Reported cases of sexual violence have quadrupled among refugees - 12 July 2011
Horn of Africa food crisis: CARE launches £16 million appeal - 11 July 2011
UK donations for East Africa Crisis Appeal reach £8 million - 10 July 2011
DEC aims to help prevent East Africa Crisis becoming a catastrophe - 10 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £6 million - 9 July 2011
Aid delivered in East Africa as DEC Appeals broadcast in UK - 8 July 2011
Africa’s newest country in grip of food crisis - 8 July 2011
DEC announces East Africa Crisis Appeal - 7 July 2011
Drought in Kenya: “Situation of refugees is grave” - 4 July 2011
Horn of Africa: CARE calls for more attention to severe food insecurity - 19 May 2011
