Severe drought causes famine!

The worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa has sparked a severe food crisis and high malnutrition rates, with parts of Kenya  and Somalia experiencing pre-famine conditions.

The severe droughts that used to hit the Horn every decade or so are now far more common. Since 2000, they have struck virtually every other year, greatly affecting food security and forcing international aid agencies to launch a seemingly endless cycle of emergency appeals. The rainfall patterns are changing for the worst. The areas most vulnerable are the marginal ones, where people are extremely reliant on the little rain that does fall. In Kenya, this means the arid north, a place where nomads have existed with their cattle for centuries.

Environmental degradation and high population growth have increased competition for scarce resources.

This leaves the people in the drylands especially vulnerable when the rains fail and food prices rise — as  over the past 12months — for a  variety of reasons, including the high cost of fuel, global commodity price hikes, and unscrupulous local traders. The result: Over 3.5 million Kenyans need food aid, and the Govt. of Kenya declared the country’s deepening drought to be a national disaster.

The Sai Organization in Kenya helps

The Sathya Sai Organisation in Kenya initiated a National Project, the East Africa Famine Relief Project, to support the government of Kenya as a partner in tackling the famine. The Project got off to a promising start on 8 Oct. 2011, when 45 members traveled from Nairobi for hours to reach some of the poorest and starving people in the arid lands of Kyuso district of North Eastern District of Kenya, close to the Somalia border. In a full day of service, they distributed over 25 tonnes of food to 5,140 people —many very old, mothers with babies, and pregnant women.

Each family received two weeks of dry ration of maize meal, green grams, red beans, and cooking fat. 1300 households were supported through this plan.

The cost of the food distributed during the first service was Kenya Shillings 2.17 million (US $21,000), excluding transportation cost of Ksh. 500,000 (US $5,000). The cost of this first pilot service was borne by Kenyan Sai Organization members and was chaneled through the Famine Relief Account of the National Trust of the Sathya Sai Organization of Kenya.

The service was attended by District Commissioner of Kyuso Mr. Maina and a senior representative of the Office of the President, besides other government officials, local chiefs, and village elders. They expressed great satisfaction that the food was being given directly to the most deserving and needy in this remote area of Kenya. Mr. Maina said that much relief food distributed by international agencies was not reaching the poor but going to the supermarkets because the food was distributed through intermediaries. They highly complimented the Sathya Sai Organization for reaching the poor directly in these remote areas.

Soon after this first service, an international consultant with wide experience with the United Nations of managing disasters in different parts of the World visited Kenya to assess the drought situation and the impact of the first service and to make recommendations with regard to the continuance of the famine relief programme in Kenya. The Consultant, Ms. Vera Mehta, who is also an ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, had the following to say after the visit:

• “The tragedy is most dire.
• “This has been a drought over three years and even the smallest segment will benefit from some resilience and recovery process.
• “The Kenyan Sai Organization has demonstrated capacity to plan and implement large scale programmes in a very realistic, pragmatic, and effective manner.
• “They have the right perspectives of not being like a development agency but rather see selfless service primarily for their spiritual development.
• “Narayan seva is related to food, so they have the vision to see even creation of greenhouses as an innovative concept of Narayan seva implemented appropriately in context.
• “It will be a highly uplifting selfless service also for those who come to Kenya from overseas as it will bring them closer to Sai Baba, as it did for me.”

Further developments

The Sathya Sai Organisation of Kenya is continuing to work on helping those affected by the famine. Hearing of the need, Sai devotees in Europe (Zone 7 of the Sai Organization) spontaneously raised funds to support the famine relief activities in Africa and in Jan. 2012 sent Euros 5,000 to the Sai Kenya Organization.

Additional Info

Feel free to email the leader at

    nimesh@wild-elegance.com

for information on operating such projects and getting involved.

To learn more about or join this service project, you may go to: http://us.sathyasai.org/index.html and click on the state or city in which the Sai Center project takes place. Click on “Email us for information about these Centers.” A local contact will respond to your email

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