Baptists Respond to East Africa Famine

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aptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the

Baptist World Alliance, granted an initial sum of US$15,000 for refugee relief in East Africa. More than 12 million people are

struggling to survive the driest period in the Eastern Horn of Africa in 60 years. The drought is causing widespread crop failure, devastating livestock and causing substantial increases in food prices. In hard-hit Somalia alone, some 3.7 million people are facing a crisis and hundreds of thousands are pouring into other countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti are also

affected by the drought and food crisis, as well as Sudan, South Sudan and parts of Uganda. The Ethiopian Addis Kidan Baptist

Church is receiving an initial sum of US$5,000 in response to an appeal to the BWA by the organization’s general secretary, Kifle Shibre, to support efforts to assist Ethiopians and some of the many thousands of Somalis that are streaming into the country. “Today I had a time with a concerned

body of the Ethiopian Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau to deal with the famine situation in Ethiopia and the Somali refugees as well,” Shibre said in an email to the BWA at the end of July. “The Bureau is working to organize/coordinate the NGOs’ aid and support in order to avoid the redundancy of resources in one area.” The Ethiopian Baptist leader indicated

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the need is urgent. “The number of affected people in Ethiopia is increasing from time to time and currently estimated at about 5.6 million.” Shibre said the main areas of need are food rations, including cereals, pulse, oil and blended food; health and nutrition products including drugs, medical supplies and equipment; “wash- related intervention” such as trucking of water and water purification chemicals; and agricultural needs which include animal health, livestock feeding and seed provision. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

(CBF), a BWA member body in the United States, is receiving US$10,000 from BWAid for refugee relief in Kenya, where many thousands of Somalis have traveled to escape the effects of the famine. A CBF field officer was in Kenya conducting assessment of water needs at one of the refugee camps on the Ethiopian border. CBF indicated that “CBF will support

strategic but limited medical/feeding work that will focus on at-risk women and children in the Ethiopian camps in Dollo Ado… and on ambulance feeding centers.” Funds will also be spent “primarily among the Pokot people in Kenya and the Borana in Ethiopia.” Euticauls Nzengu of Kenya, a member

of the BWA Commission on Evangelism, told the BWA that “many of our Baptist churches are also hit by the famine and we are wondering what to do. Many of our people – Kenyan Baptists – are suffering in our country,” he said.

Other Baptist groups are responding

to the East African famine, including the British mission agency, BMS World Mission, which channeled a grant through the Baptist Union of Uganda for 600 households in two communities in Uganda; American Baptist International Ministries which has provided an emergency relief grant; and the Baptist General Convention of Texas which gave donations to Ethiopian Aid Mission, a consortium of primarily Baptist congregations in East Texas that has been serving in Ethiopia for more than three years. BWAid director, Paul Montacute, is encouraging Baptists to give generously to the BWA Hunger Fund for these and similar needs. “We have already received many inquiries from the worldwide Bap- tist fellowship,” Montacute said. “These initial gifts to the CBF and Addis Kidan will enable work to start, but more funds will be needed as we support long range programs.” Donations may be made to www.

bwanet.org or sent to: Baptist World Aid 405 North Washington Street Falls Church, VA 22046, USA

Above: A boy sits looking over the Seyidka settlement for the famine stricken, internally displaced people in Berkulan near Somalia's capital Mogadishu. REUTERS/Ismail Taxta, courtesy www.alertnet.org

A baby drinks water from his mother's hand at the Hagadera reception center, at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, situated in northeast Kenya. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst, courtesy www.alertnet.org

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