Prayer Update: Longing for Rains

Crowds gathering at the end of a 2016 CBM relief distribution in Garissa, Kenya

We thank God for a peaceful transition of power in Somalia this past week, as former prime minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was elected president. Of the many challenges his new government will face, perhaps there is none as immediate as a looming famine in the Horn of Africa. 

Presently five million people living in Somali do not have enough to eat, because of four consecutive years of drought. People are already recognizing the warning signs of famine, similar to the conditions leading up to 2011 famine that killed 260,000 people.

Following Canadian Baptist Ministries' emergency response in 2011, our team has been working to build resiliency and food security for villages in Kenya's most vulnerable region, Garissa. Helping families settle and farm along the Tana River using irrigation and dryland conservation agriculture methods has seen good success. Along with ongoing training and support, this month our colleagues William and Geofrey are beginning construction of a new irrigation canal project for farming cooperatives in this area.

We continue to pray for success in this ministry as local Christian and Muslim neighbours work together to provide sustainable farms and communities.

As we pray for rains to come, we remember that the drought is not only affecting Somalia and Northeastern Kenya. The drought now includes southern Ethiopia, a much wider region of Kenya, and parts of Rwanda and Burundi. 

According to the World Food Program's January 2017 report, in Kenya over two million people are expected to fall into food insecurity from over the next six months. The National Disaster Management Authority is warning that Kenya could face a drought similar or worse than that experienced in 2011.

Twenty-three of Kenya's forty-seven counties are affected by the worsening situation, but the ten most affected are Turkana, Marsabit, Tana River, Garissa, Kilif, Samburu, Kwale, Lamu, West Pokot, and Wajir. Already in places like Marsabit, 60% of cattle have died and people are facing malnutrition. 

Searching for Water

Women carry jerry cans of water from shallow wells dug from sand along the Shabelle River, which is dry because of drought in Somalia's Shabelle region in March 2016 (photo Reuters)

Please join us in praying for rains and for wisdom as churches and communities respond to this crisis. We especially think of our friends and CBM colleagues working in the draught affected region of Mahama Rwanda.

To learn more about the relief efforts of Canadian Baptist Ministries and to donate to these efforts, people please follow this link.