The fastest growing city in Kenya is the Dadaab refugee camp in Northern Kenya which grows at the rate of 1,300 refugees a day. It has become Kenya’s third largest city. Famine has created this “city”. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen noted that droughts are natural phenomena, but famines are man-made. Many countries have successfully prevented drought from leading to famine over the years, but the horn of Africa is not one of those places. The worst drought in more than half a century has swept its way through the Horn of Africa driving some 12 million people towards starvation.
The challenges facing relief efforts are numerous. Relief food intended for starving refugees has been stolen in transit by those who seek to sell the produce elsewhere. The al-Shabab terrorist group, who is in control of much of Somali, refuses to allow many people under their power access to the refugee camps. Other complications include some trying to use the camps as a transit point to European countries after attaining refugee status. A significant percentage of the people facing starvation are pastoralists, those whose cattle and goats have died. Farming, through the use of drip-irrigation, could be a significant part of the solution to this crisis, but convincing those who have been pastoralists for generations to switch to farming is an enormous cultural/social challenge.
While the world focuses on Somalia and the starving refugees pouring across the Kenyan border, Kenya is on the brink of its own famine, with 3.5 million people at risk of malnutrition. You can drive the 10 hours from Nairobi to Dadaab along rocky dirt paths without seeing a single drop of water. When camels are dying you know things are bad. Last week three Vineyard pastors visited the Turkana District to explore more possibilities of food distribution. The Vineyard church’s in Lodwar and Kalokol will help with this effort as they are familiar with the people and the region. Karen Vineyard Church is taking an offering to assist with the purchase and distribution of the food.
Please pray with us:
As the Vineyard in Kenya seeks, in small ways, to assist those who are starving
For the annual Pastor’s Conference – August 24-27th - pray that Pastors and their teams will be encouraged, strengthened, and unified in the face of discouragement and financial challenges.
For the Young Leaders Seminar – August 23-26th Pray that these young leaders will be empowered to identify their giftings, their place of leadership and opportunity to minister.
Pray for us to be wise and stratgeic in whom we invest ourselves.
Pray for our family as the separation from them is difficult at times.
