Food for Work Project

North East Province, Kenya

(Photo by Gabriel Craven)

Canadian Baptist Ministries Drought Response Project continues this week as we begin a "food for work project" with two vulnerable villages along the Tana River, South East of Garissa. Our colleagues Yattani Gollo and William Wako are coordinating efforts with village elders to clear scrub bush from roads and the flood plain. The communities have selected the sites for the work that will open travel between their villages and the larger town. "Removing the thorn bushes will improve security," shared Yattani. "Many women and children walk these paths in fear of attackers lurking in the mathenga (local thorny brush that covers most of Northeast Province)." The opened roads will also provide improved access to the community farms that will be cleared of mathenga over the coming months by the community members. Over the next three months, approximately 2000 people will receive supplementary food rations through this project as we help the community recover from the drought and rebuild their farms.

Mosaic

The Fall Issue of Mosaic Available Online

We are excited to share this link for the latest issue of Mosaic which features articles on the current crisis in East Africa by Rupen Das, Paul Carline and Aaron. With photos in North East Province taken by Erica.

Sack Gardening in the

Iftin Unity Garden

Eastleigh Community Centre, Nairobi

To read the latest issue of Mosaic

Click Here

Or follow the link at Fall Mosaic_D4b.pdf

Drought Response in Kenya

Somali Children in Sankuri Division, Garissa

Rain is falling in Northeastern Kenya, but will it be enough?

Today is another cloudy day in Garissa. A fine mist of rain has raised the humidity, but there are no puddles of water to be found. After several years of failed rains, Northestern Kenya and the rest of the "Horn of Africa" are praying that this October-November rainy season will be different. They desperately need good rain as people rely on rainfall for pasture and rain catchments for water. If the rains do not come, the current famine and humanitarian crisis will only get worse.

During times of drought, tens of thousands of people are drawn to the Tana River. This mud brown river snakes from central Kenya eastward, forming a border with Northeastern Province and eventually emptying into the Indian Ocean on the Kenyan coast. Rate of flow is remarkable as water gushes past Garissa on its way to the ocean.

A few weeks ago, we were visiting farms started by the Kenyan Red Cross, north of Garissa on the banks of the Tana. As we visited with Somali farmers, a dark cloud opened up and wet our heads, but remarkably the ground beneath us never got wet. It was so dry, it was as if the rain evaporated before it could land. I've never seen anything like it before. If we can not trust the rains, why not the river?

As Canadian Baptist Ministries assists in famine relief, we are already beginning to work with communities to help them to literally tap into this resource and find food security and livelihoods through farming along the river. This represents a seismic shift in local culture and values, as we help traditional wandering pastoral communities settle into agricultural life.

This week, our colleagues Yattani, William, Laura and Pauline are carrying out a baseline assessment within three small communities where CBM will be serving. Please keep them and these communities in your prayers.

In Prayer:

* Please remember the people of the Horn of Africa.

* Pray for much needed rain.

* Pray for peace, humility and wise leadership that will be needed to stabilize Somalia.

* And please remember our CBM NEP team as we struggle to love and serve our neighbours in a way that will help bring about growth, healing and change.

To Learn More about how you can be involved with CBM's Drought Response

Click Here

Praying for Change

Children receiving vitamin supplements

at a CBM feeding project in

Northeastern Province, Kenya

In the past three months alone, approximately 30,000 children have died from malnutrition and preventable illness in the Horn of Africa. Canadian Baptist Ministries is partnering with the Sister's Maternity Hospital, in Garissa, to provide immunizations, medical services, and daily food and water to nine affected communities along the Tana River. This is an area where thousands of displaced people have come for help with small villages more than doubling in size from the influx.

Through the generous support of churches and individuals, we are working with partners in the local community to help vulnerable families survive. But more than survival, we are praying for change. The present relief efforts are only a first step, as Canadian Baptist Ministries works with communities eager to break a pattern that has held them in a feast and famine cycle for generations. Together with the local government, the Kenyan Red Cross and community elders, we are actively seeking sustainable change that will enable the communities we are serving to make better use of the waters of the Tana River to grow their own food and provide a rich economic benefit for the region.

Change is not easy. We all favour what we know over the unknown. Certainly, there will be a lot of learning, risk and failure on the journey ahead. But as we make this journey with local Kenyan churches and Muslim communities, we pray for deeper bonds of love, understanding and grace. God is a liberating God. Ultimately, we trust his Spirit at work in the lives of many to bring about healing, growth, and transformation!

Women and children lining up for water at a mobile clinic and feeding program of Canadian Baptist Ministries and the Sister's Maternity Hospital, near Garissa.

A Waliwana women participating in a small

women's farming cooperative near the

Tana River, in Northeastern Province.

Under the Acacia Tree

Erica and Diane Bannister speaking with Somali women

at a feeding clinic in Doloweyn,

Northeastern Province, Kenya

Children taking turns drinking from a large water container

at the Doloweyn feeding centre and clinic in NEP.

CBM Drought Response

Malakote women weaving prayer matts along the Tana River,

in Northeastern Province (NEP), Kenya

Erica visiting with a group farming group of Somali and Malokote women who live in the community of BulaIftin, in Garissa District, NEP.

Aaron and Erica meeting with Malakote women and elders as part of our CBM Drought Response Assessment, this past week in NEP. Aaron is returning to the drought affected region this coming week with another assessment team, as CBM prepares for its next phase of ministry in NEP. It is encouraging to see these communities working together to grow food along the River -- a source of life in an arid land.

While listening to the stories of mothers struggling to feed their families and find clean drinking water, we heard again and again words of appreciate to God for the compassion and help of Canadians who have helped them and their children through this famine. Please continue to pray for these strong women who walk through this dry and barren place to provide for their children.

Diane Bannister greeting Somali children at one of the

ambulatory feeding centres in Sankuri, NEP

A Hornbill poking around the Bura

daily feeding project, looking for his breakfast!

On the road in Garissa

Sunday in Garissa

Salomi, Diana and Erica on the way

to an ACC&S worship service this Sunday

During our assessment trip, we had the joy of spending a Sunday with our friend William and the Gollo family. We decided to join the local ACC&S worship service in Garissa.

A little girl sitting next to us in the Church service

Dancing in the aisles!

Aaron with Titus at the ACC&S

Church and School in Garissa

It was great to meet some one of the teachers from the ACC&S school that has been serving the community of Garissa for nearly 25 years. The school is presently ministering to many young Muslim students who make up 70% of the student body.

Erica holding Joshua

Joshua turns three months old this week!

Yattani, Salomi and baby Joshua

Please continue to pray for our CBM team in Kenya, especially the remember our NEP team responding to the drought in Northeastern Kenyan.

Famine Relief CBM: Making an Impact!

Canadian Baptist Ministries Food Relief

Northeastern Province Kenya

Fifty-two children eating at the daily feeding project

in the village of Atheley, near Garissa.

Since the beginning of June, Canadian Baptist Ministries has been working with several partner agencies on accessing and responding to the drought that is impacting this entire region. One of our responses has been with the Sisters Maternity Hospital (SIMAHO) in Garissa.

Together with our colleagues Yattani Gollo and William Guyo, SIMAHO has been serving nine villages along the Tana River through mobile outreach clinics and daily feeding programs targeted at helping expecting and lactating mothers and children under the age of five. The project is called an "Ambulatory Feeding Program" as it is delivered in cooperation with mobile clinics carried out by SIMAHO's nurses and nutritionist.

Over the past month, Erica and I have become increasingly involved in CBM's Drought Response. This week, we are apart of an assessment team with Diane Bannister who is a registered nurse in Kenya and Canada, as well as Yattani and William. We are working with several agencies and consortiums as we coordinate our efforts and seek to make the greatest impact both for the immediate emergency and for longterm sustainable change.

Change That You Can See!

This is a photograph of our nutritionist colleague, Hassan Abdullahi, measuring the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of a little girl a part of the Dololoweyn Feeding Project. Only six weeks ago, 35% of the children in Dololoweyn were underweight and among them several wasting away. The MUAC is a medical instrument for health care workers to measure sever and acute malnutrition. "It is incredible to see how quickly these children have bounced back!" Hassan told us. "I can see the change." Daily feeding, paired with the provision of monthly rations through the Kenyan Red Cross, USAID and the government of Kenya is making an impact upon people living in towns and targeted villages. But there are many gaps in the relief work, and the challenge is working effectively to avoid duplication and reach the people being missed.

While in Dololoweyn, a group of 40 mothers crossed the Tana River from a neglected community in the arid plains beyond. They have no other medical centre or source of food. This is it. Despite the danger of crossing the Tana, they came to feed their children and receive medical help. "We must ensure that everyone is immunized," explained the Zahra from SIMAHO. "Measles, whooping cough, and other communicable diseases are a great concern as so many refugees come to us from Somalia and the bush. We are already seeing outbreaks of measles in the camps, and cases of polio in the western parts of the country."

Erica helping a little girl too weak to lift the

heavy cup of unimix at the feeding clinic in Atheley

With the help of the mobile clinics and feeding program, the villages have attracted hundreds of new arrivals as an influx of pastoral families have moved into each of the nine villages in search of help, most having lost their herds to the drought. Dololoweyn's population, for instance, has jumped from 300 to over 800 in the past two months.

Despite the huge influx, the people are sharing what little they have and are caring for the neighbours. Camilla was one of the many pregnant mothers we met at the mobile clinics. She was carrying an infant and walking with a two year old into the feeding shelter, when we asked her about her children: she explained that her brother returned with the infant and five other children and asked her to care for them because his wife had died in the drought. "I can only feed these children because of the food I am given," she told us thankfully. "I have nothing else to give them."

Diane Bannister checking on a newborn

at the Bura Daily Feeding Project, near Doloweyn

In Prayer:

* Please pray for the 4 million people within Kenya presently affected by the drought.

* Pray for the frontline medical workers, churches, agencies and community groups that are responding to the needs of these people. We pray not only for lives to be saved in the immediate crisis, but for sustainable change that will enable these communities to mitigate against future crisis.

* We pray for hope and spiritual healing among the countless families who have suffered such loss and anguish through this famine.

* We thank God for the people he is using around the world and in tangible ways to show love and compassion to their neighbours. It has been heart warming this week to see men and women stepping forward and serving the sick and weakest among them. People who may not have eaten much themselves, feeding the children of their neighbours.

Aaron in Raya with Abdi, one of the volunteer

men helping in the feeding project

CBC Interview with Erica

Drought Response in the Horn of Africa

Please keep us in your prayers as we coordinate CBM's drought response in Kenya's Northeastern Province. We are presently assessing the immediate needs in villages and informal settlements outside of the Dadaab Refugee Camps, and working with our team to design immediate relief and long term sustainable development initiatives to help the affected communities become food secure. We are thankful for the support and encouragement of so many friends and churches in Canada that have been upholding this ministry.

This morning, Erica was interviewed by CBC radio's Mitch Cormier about her participation in the food convoy to Dhobley, Somalia, and CBM's long term work in sustainable community development in Kenya's Northeastern Province.

Bringing Help to Somalia

Posted by Nancy Russell

A UPEI graduate turned missionary brings aid to Somalia. Erica Kenny was part of the first convoy to enter the volatile country since famine was declared last month. We reached her at her home in Nairobi, Kenya.

To Listen to the interview: Click Here

Other Links:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/08/18/pei-kenny-somalia-aid-worker-584.htmlhttp://news.ca.msn.com/canada/somalia-aid-worker-feels-blessed

Influx Areas Dadaab Refugee Camps

Photographed by Erica

Dadaab, Kenya

This dehydrated little girl was just sitting by herself in a tent covered in flies and dirt. Her mother didn't understand how to access the medical clinics within the larger camps, and told Erica that she was waiting for a doctor to come and help. Erica and Amanda took the mother, her new born and this two year old to the MSF clinic to get help. The doctor admitted them right away.

Photographed by Erica

A young boy running along the edge of the refugee extension area that is now home to an estimated 65,000 new arrivals to the Dadaab Refugee Camps. The population of the camps and extension area are now in excess of 465,000 people -- the majority of whom are children.

Photographed by Erica

This young mother walked pregnant across the southern plains of Somalia to reach the refugee camps. She gave birth here in the extension area. We pray for her children who are beginning life in this place.

Photographed by Erica

Children living in the extension zone

Photographed by Erica

A mother washing her family's clothes in the

extension area of the Dadaab Refugee Camps

In Prayer:

Please uphold the people of the Horn of Africa in your prayers.

* Pray for the thousands of children who are struggling to survive in the camps. Security and safety are major issues as so many people crowd into one area. We pray for the aid workers who are working to provide order and stability for people who have experienced so such trauma.

* Remember the untold numbers of refugees still walking the dusty camel paths of the Somali wilderness, seeking help.

* We thank the Lord for the help streaming into the Refugee Camps of Dadaab. We pray for the hundreds of thousands of people that are not within the Camps or receiving such help.

*Please pray for CBM as the mission raises support to help with famine relief.

Praying for Somalia

Children in the Dadaab Refugee Camp of Ifo

Erica is in Dadaab again this week with our friend Amanda Lindhout. They spent today in the refugee camps visiting with new arrivals. Between 1300 and 1500 new people are being registered into the camps each day. At one point, Erica and Amanda were visiting a family outside the camp who had a very sick child. They helped the mother bring her daughter to the hospital. The medical facilities of the camps are over run, as they respond the affects of the famine. Please continue to pray for the Somali refugees crossing over into Kenya and for the famine relief within Dhobley and the surrounding area.

Canadian Baptist Ministries is also involved in emergency food relief in other drought affected areas in Kenya's Northeastern and Eastern Provinces. We appreciate your support and prayers.

Tonight, Erica and Amanda will be going to the UN compound where Amanda is being interviewed by Anderson Cooper for CNN.

Anderson Cooper 360

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/

Update on the Drought

http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-famine-relief-progress-slow-race-save-millions/story?id=14249541&page=2

Famine Relief Convoy into Somalia

Photographed by Erica, in Dhobley, Somalia

We appreciate our friend Andrew Myers who just shared with us a link to the Today Show's coverage of the food relief convoy into Somalia that Erica was a part of. The piece that aired this morning on NBC, highlights Amanda's journey. Near the end, you can see Erica in the background talking with a group of Somali children.

Once again, we want to thank everyone who has been praying for this effort and for the people of Somalia.

click here To watch the video of the NBC Today Show coverage of the convoy

Back from Somalia

The present drought is taking life throughout much of the horn of Africa. According to the UN, this is the worst drought in the region in the past 60 years.

The road from Garissa to Dadaab is lined with animal carcasses. Travelling through this sun bleached land, we met several small groups of women and children walking the dusty road. Their beautiful smiles were disarming, as we knew the struggle they face each day to survive.

Meeting with Somali women on the long road to Somalia

This past week, we travelled to Dadaab with our friends Amanda Lindhout and Ryan Youngblood. Ryan is a talented young American film maker living in Rwanda.

Aaron with Stephen, who serves with African Relief, the organization that helped facilitate the food distribution within Somalia. The convoy to bring food relief to the desperate Somali community of Dhobley took the cooperation and the generous help of many individuals, government and nongovernmental organizations. We were blessed to be able to learn so much from being a small part of this journey and to have been so graciously welcomed in by everyone, especially Amanda.

Erica with Fartuma in the CBM Dadaab Compound

Along with our group of seven, there were many aid workers and journalists staying in the CBM Dadaab compound which has served as a guesthouse and training facility over the past few years for numerous organizations in Dadaab. It was great to sleep out on the old veranda under the stars, although we did have something crawl into our mosquito netting and wake us up in the middle of the night -- gotta love the scorpions!

The two food convoy trucks in the border town of Liboi, Kenya

The convoy was organized by Amanda's organization the Global Enrichment Foundation and African Future. Through the generous donations of countless people, over $70,000 worth of food aid is being distributed to 14,000 refugees walking through Somalia to Kenya.

Photographed by Erica

People lining up for food distribution in the village of Dobley

which is scarred from the recent attacks by Al Shabbab

Photographed by Erica

The convoy was only able to make it across the border and to the people who need it the most, thanks to the protection of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces that met Amanda and Erica this morning and escorted them into Somalia.

Photographed by Erica

Erica was shocked at how young most of the TFG soldiers were.

Photographed by Erica

After a difficult journey, it was all worth it to see the

food arrive to the people who need it the most!

Photographed by Erica

Excited children in Dhobley, Somalia

(There are several news reports available online about the situation in Dobley. I've noticed that it is being spelled several ways. The signs in the village read Dhobley, but you can find information about the village by searching "Dhoobley", "Dobley", and "Dhobley")

Photographed by Erica

Amanda meeting with a refugee women

as she received her large bag of food

-- enough to feed a family for two weeks.

Home in Nairobi!

We want to thank everyone who has been upholding this convoy and our family in prayer. Please continue to pray for the tens of thousands of refugees still walking through this arid landscape in search of help. In the past months, it is estimated that 29,000 children (under the age of 5) have died in this region from the drought. We pray for the parents who have lost young children, because they have had nothing to feed them. The anguish and suffering a mother or father must experience as they watch their children die of starvation, is unimaginable. If you are interested in how you can help, you can check out the CBM site or any of the organizations highlighted in this post.

NBC has been documenting Amanda's work in organizing this convoy. Their first report was aired tonight, but a more detailed coverage of Amanda's story in mobilizing people and resources to respond to the crisis will air at 7 am tomorrow on the Today Show (NBC).

Famine in the Horn of Africa

Greetings from Dadaab, Kenya!

Over the past week, Erica and I have had the pleasure of coming alongside our friend Amanda Lindhout and the Global Enrichment Foundation, as we have travelled together throughout the Northeastern Province of Kenya to join the current famine relief efforts. Along with representatives from other partner organizations, we drove the group to Garissa and Dadaab where we met with our friends at CARE International and had an opportunity to return to the Dadaab Refugee Camps which continue to receive 1300 to 1500 new refugees every day. Only the strongest are making the perilous journey through the arid lands of south-central Somalia. Many are left behind, too weak to carry on.

Last night, after a long dusty day, we had a simple supper in the United Nations Compound in Dadaab Village, where we met with many dedicated workers from around the world. We were told by one official that Satellite images reveal columns of more refugees moving toward the Kenyan border in search of help. The impact of this famine is staggering. It is overwhelming to witness such pain and suffering.

Tomorrow morning, Erica and Amanda are crossing the Somali border with a convoy of food under the guard of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG). The food aid is being targeted to the tens of thousands of refugees enroute to Dadaab.

Please Pray...

* For the safety of Amanda and Erica -- they are making an extremely courageous journey into a part of the world that most development agencies refuse to go.

* For the food convoy, that the "care packages" reach the people who need them the most!

* For peace in Somalia, that the current fighting between El Shabbab and TFG forces would cease.

* For an end to this famine!

* For resources that could be mobilized to enable organizations like Canadian Baptist Ministries or the Global Enrichment Foundation to get food to the people whose lives depend upon it.