Scottish Catholic Observer

Scottish charities are answering Pope Benedict XVI’s call to help the famine-afflicted people of East Africa.

Pope Benedict XVI appealed again on Sunday for aid for those suffering in the Horn of Africa from the worsening consequences of drought and famine. The United Nations on Tuesday urged the air transport industry to help fly food in urgently to the region.

The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and Mary’s Meals have both expanded their operations in the region in response to the worsening crisis following the recent drought. SCIAF’s emergency appeal has raised more than £600,000, while Mary’s Meals has extended its feeding programme in East Africa to provide a daily meal for 24,000 hungry children. Both charities hope that continued donations will allow them to help even more.

In spite of initial promises of support, Oxfam this week said governments and donors are not acting fast enough to address the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa in light of the deepening crisis.

The relief agency said that donors must immediately fulfill pledges of aid to help more than half a million people who are at risk of starvation in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Pope’s call

Pope Benedict told around 3000 pilgrims, who gathered outside his summer residence at Castle Gandolfo, not to forget the victims of famine in the Horn of Africa. He made the appeal during his weekly blessing to pilgrims last Sunday.

“It is forbidden to be indifferent in the face of the tragedy of the starving,” the Pope said. “Think of the many brothers and sisters who in these days, in the Horn of Africa, are suffering the dramatic consequences of famine, aggravated by war and the absence of solid institutions.”

The Pope also said Jesus set an example of meeting material needs while also addressing the deeper hungers of the human heart.

“The love of God is present in the bread of Christ; encountering Him, we feed on the living God, so to speak, and we truly eat the bread come down from Heaven,” the Pope said. “In the Eucharist, Jesus makes us witnesses to God’s compassion for every brother and sister.”

He then prayed that people would open their hearts with compassion for their neighbours and would share with those in need.

Charities rally

Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has reported that Catholic charities are deeply involved in meeting the needs of people suffering from the famine in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Kenya.

SCIAF, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, and Mary’s Meals, a Scottish International Relief project, are playing a vital part in the efforts to help during this current crisis and in the long-term.

Emergency appeal

SCIAF has expanded its emergency response to help deal with the tragedy and has had a remarkable response from its Scottish donors.

Donations to SCIAF’s emergency appeal have come from supporters across Scotland and now total £625,000. This generosity has been underscored by the fact that CAFOD’s similar appeal has raised £2.5 million—a remarkable achievement in its own right—in England and Wales which have ten times the population of Scotland.

Lorraine Currie, SCIAF’s head of international programmes, said Scottish Catholics had been extraordinarily generous.

“SCIAF would like to thank everyone who has generously donated money to help people caught up in the drought,” she said. “These donations are helping to provide emergency aid which is saving lives. We are working tirelessly with our partners in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan to get aid to those who need it most.  This includes food, water, medicine, cash payments and working with local people to build or rehabilitate wells, ponds and pastureland so that they can maximise access to the resources they still have.”

She went on to say that more money was urgently needed to prevent an even greater catastrophe.

“The situation remains critical as more people become desperate to find food and water, and malnutrition, especially amongst the very young, increases,” she said. With the seasonal rains not due for several months the situation is unlikely to improve in the short term and we are extremely grateful for people’s ongoing support at this difficult time.”

Further donations will allow SCIAF to expand its programme of emergency relief that began in January in the drought-stricken Borena region of southern Ethiopia. This programme has now been extended to cover 10,000 households.

SCIAF has also extended its emergency relief work into Turkana in northern Kenya where it is helping to provide water, food and medicine to 5400 families, 6500 nursery children and 10,000 children under five years of age.

Helping the young

Mary’s Meals has pledged to help thousands more hungry children in northern Kenya.

The charity, which provides school meals in some of the world’s poorest communities, has been working in the region for several years, and already feeds thousands of children in South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. Now its work in Lodwar Diocese, in drought-hit northern Kenya, is set to reach 6000 more children.

The assistance will target nursery-aged children, the agegroup at the most at risk from hunger-related diseases, ensuring that they receive crucial nutrition during the six week summer holiday, when other sources of food are not available.

The new programme will bring the total number of children that Mary’s Meals is feeding in Kenya to more than 24,000. The 6000 reached by the new programme are in addition to 3700 already supported in Lodwar and more than 14,000 elsewhere in Kenya.

Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, the charity’s chief executive, said the situation was grim but their efforts where making a difference.

“The situation in Turkana has become increasingly desperate, with failed rains leading to dire food and water shortages,” he said. “What was already a crisis has become an emergency, so when our partners asked for help to feed more hungry children, we felt compelled to give it. We are considering how we can respond to further urgent requests for more help from our friends and partners in northern Kenya.

Tim Flynn, administrator for Lodwar Diocese, which delivers Mary’s Meals in the region, reports that the situation is worsening all the time. “Hunger is widespread and animals have started to die,” he said. “We know that things are going to get worse because there is no expectation of any rain, if it comes at all, before October.”

— To donate to SCIAF’s Emergency Appeal visit http://www.sciaf.org.uk/ or call 0141 354 5555. To contact Mary’s Meals visit http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/ or call 01838 200605.

— [email protected]