wfn.org | Churches unite to help millions of starving Ethiopians

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 4, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-31-71BP{231}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.

By Paul Jeffrey*
 
BORENA, Ethiopia (UMNS) -- As the world scrambles to provide food for
millions of hungry Ethiopians, Yatani Dalayo can barely stand, and knows
he'd never make it walking to Dubuluch, a small village three kilometers
away. So he sits in his simple grass hut, staring at the ashes of a fire
that hasn't heated food for days.

Yatani is a pastoralist, an animal herder who roams the arid landscape of
southern Ethiopia with his cattle and goats, leading the animals through
grasslands watered by seasonal rains. Yet the rains haven't come for three
years, so he has slowly sold off his cattle and used the proceeds to feed
his family. 

Today, the lean times have become impossible times, and Yatani has nothing
left. His last five cattle died after his band of pastoralists arrived here
a few weeks ago. Hundreds of cattle skeletons lay baking in the hot sun
around their encampment. The animals that died most recently have their skin
intact; pastoralists like Yatani don't even have the energy to skin the dead
animals in hope of selling the hides.

As he sits quietly alone, his emaciated body covered by a shawl, Yatani says
his wife and children walked to the town in hopes of selling a few pieces of
firewood they gathered. Asked how he feels, he replies in a barely audible
voice that he's fine; he's not sick, just hungry. He doesn't complain. 

He just waits.

Will Yatani still be alive by the time relief assistance arrives from the
outside world? That's the type of question being asked throughout the
drought-plagued Horn of Africa, where 16 million people are at risk of
starvation. Half that number lives in Ethiopia.

The international community has promised to help, yet to many here the time
lag between promises and food deliveries has seemed inordinately long.

"It will be a crime against humanity if we let hundreds of thousands of
people die because there's not enough food here," declared Christian
Balslev-Olesen, general secretary of DanChurchAid, during a visit to
Ethiopia. Balslev-Olesen met with Yatani and other drought victims
throughout the Borena region.

"Ethiopia has the infrastructure in place, a very good monitoring system,
experienced nongovernmental organizations, and a very organized society at a
local level. There's no excuse for the international community to let people
die here," Balslev-Olesen said.

DanChurchAid is a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT), a worldwide
alliance of churches and aid agencies responding to emergencies. In early
April, the Geneva-based ACT issued an appeal to its members to come up with
$32 million in relief supplies for Ethiopia, including food, seeds, and
tools.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is also a member of ACT. It
is working through the Orthodox Church and other ACT members to provide
relief to Ethiopia.

ACT, which brings together mostly Protestant and Orthodox churches and
agencies, is soon expected to join with the Rome-based Caritas
Internationalis, the main relief and development network of the Roman
Catholic Church, in issuing a new joint appeal for Ethiopian relief work.
The work would be carried out by the Joint Relief Partnership, a national
organization formed by several faith-based organizations, which began
coordinating their relief efforts during the 1984-85 famine.

The ACT-Caritas joint appeal would support relief programs of Joint Relief
Partnership members, which include the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Mekane
Yesus Ethiopian Evangelical Church and the Lutheran World Federation, all
members of ACT. The Ethiopian Catholic Church and Catholic Relief Services,
the overseas development and relief arm of the U.S. Catholic bishops
conference, are also partnership members.

The partnership announced early this year that its members planned to
provide food assistance to about one-tenth of the 8 million Ethiopians who
were then expected to go hungry this year. Yet because of worsening drought
conditions, relief officials here now predict that another 2.6 million
people will soon be added to the rolls of those needing assistance.
Church-related agencies are beginning to plan how to expand their relief
role even further.

Aid officials agree the Borena region is next in line for the drought to
turn into a full-blown famine. In some areas of Borena, more than 90 percent
of cattle and 65 percent of sheep have already died. Many farmers are using
drought-resistant camels to plough their fields, as their oxen are dead or
too weak to work. 

If rains return to normal, aid workers say it could take many of the
pastoralist families in this area as many as five to seven years to
replenish their herds. Even for those animals that have survived until now,
high levels of stress will prevent female animals from getting pregnant very
soon. That means no milk, an important part of pastoralist diets, especially
for children.

When Mekane Yesus staff conducted a survey in February and March in several
areas of Borena, they found that more than one-third of children under age 5
in the region were malnourished. In several villages, schools have closed as
children lacked energy to study.

"It won't be sufficient for aid agencies to just provide food for a few
months," said Stein Villumstad, the assistant general secretary for policy
and human rights of Norwegian Church Aid, an ACT member. "We've got to help
people increase their ability to cope with drought over the long run."

United Methodists can support relief efforts in Ethiopia through UMCOR.
Designate checks for "Ethiopia Famine Relief, Advance #101250-4." All of the
money donated will be used in the relief efforts. Checks can be dropped in
local church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive,
Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling
(800) 554-8583.

# # #

*Jeffrey, a United Methodist missionary, recently visited Ethiopia and wrote
this account for Action by Churches Together. This story is a shorter
version of his report.
  

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United Methodist News Service
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