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.

Drought in the Horn of Africa

PHOTO/TOM MARUKO/NATION

A malnourished Somali child in hospital at the Dadaab refugee camp on July 11, 2011. Thousands of Somalis are fleeing the war and drought in their country.

Over the past weeks, reports in Kenya about the dramatic rise in Somali refugees entering the country have been all over the local media. Drought has been a cyclical phenomena in East Africa for centuries, but the political instability of countries like Somali seems to dramatically increase the impact of drought upon the lives of the most vulnerable. Below is a brief article from our local newspaper, the Nation, sent to us by our colleague Yattani Gollo. Please keep the people of Somalia in your prayers, and for wisdom as churches, organizations and government work together to serve people in crisis.

Blessings,

the Kennys

Story by AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com

The UN calls on Kenya to open a new refugee camp

The head of the UN refugee agency Antonio Guterres was taken aback by the pathetic state of affairs at the camp, one of the word’s largest, when he visited at the weekend. “I have visited refugee camps around the world, but I must admit I have never seen people living under such conditions,” he said. According to UNHCR, the camp initially set up to cater for only 90,000 refugees, has now exceeded the number by nearly five times.

‘Poorest of the poor’

Mr Guterres described the refugees flocking to Daadab as “the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.” The UN refugee agency is still pressing the Kenyan government to accept the completion of IFO II camp to admit another group of at least 35,000 people. The other camps are Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera. The situation has been worsened by the current drought in the Horn of Africa region, which is estimated to have affected at least 10 million people across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. International aid firm Oxfam expressed support for the UNHCR appeal, saying that opening up of Ifo II would enable relief agencies to reach the refugees. “It is tragic that vulnerable families are trapped in limbo, forced to endure appalling conditions while there are fully functioning services right next door. Their basic needs are being ignored,” said Joost van de Lest, head of Oxfam in Kenya.

The number of refugees at the camp continues to increase every day even as it emerges that it is not just the war in Somalia that is pushing them into Kenya — many are escaping the hunger and famine back home. They arrive in droves, with most of the women and children too weak to walk or even stand. At the camp’s hospital are malnourished children with spindly limbs, wrinkled skin and pale eyes on beds beside their sad mothers. Ms Isha Abdulrahman from Jubaland and a mother of twin boys is at the hospital. One of the boys is clinging to her breasts as she cuddles the other in her arms — the one who is recovering from near-starvation. Ms Abdulrahman said she travelled from Saqu in the middle of Jubaland in Somalia where she had been a farmer. “A harsh drought wiped away all our crops,” she told the Nation through a translator. She arrived here three weeks ago. By the time she arrived here, the weaker of her twins was almost succumbing to hunger.