June 14, 2003

Christian relief and development agency Tearfund is launching an emergency appeal for funds as many thousands of Ethiopians face starvation while waiting for crops that will not mature for several months.

Each week there are reports of children dying from hunger in villages in the south of the country as food shortages tighten their grip. Currently 12.6 million Ethiopians are facing a desperate 'food gap' until their next harvest is due later in the year. Governments and aid agencies are racing against time to prevent a catastrophe unfolding.

Failed rains last year are the trigger for the crisis, but underlying causes include falling crop yields, large families on small farms, lack of infrastructure and the sheer chronic poverty of the country's 67.2 million people.

Tearfund's Horn of Africa emergency appeal will buy supplementary food for children and women who without urgent help may face death by starvation in the coming weeks and months. Seeds will also be provided so that crops can be quickly planted. The appeal will also seek to alleviate suffering in Eritrea, where 2.3 million people are at risk of starvation.

"In some villages people are starving literally within metres of maize plants that won't produce food for another three months, provided the current rains continue," explains Ian Wallace, Tearfund's International Operations Director.

Tearfund's Christian partners are already feeding tens of thousands of poor villagers, many of them children who need special 'supplementary' food containing a cocktail of carbohydrate and energy. But churches such as Tearfund partner the Meserete Kristos Church who are working in the southern Boricha district, say the rations they are giving are too small and more funds and food supplies are needed.

"We must urgently get more food aid to these villagers, declares Solomon Dibaba, a Tearfund worker. "If we do not we could be facing a catastrophe with millions more people suffering."

Six-year-old Alena Arba's father died three years ago when famine struck the southern Ethiopian district of Wolaitta. Now Alena himself is on the brink of survival as once again failed rains plunge the poorest of Ethiopia's people into crisis.

Waiting at a supplementary feeding centre being run by Tearfund partners Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church, Alena's mother Tarek Thomas (25) says: "Alena is sick all the time because we have nothing to eat. I try to feed him once a day by begging for food. But I do not get enough.

"Our crops failed last year and without a husband I find it hard to work because I am sick also. I will keep begging. If I can get healthy I will be able to do more work on my land."

Further north in the district of Boricha, Beynech Gabiso, (29), stands next to her maize crop - not due for harvesting until September - while her five extremely malnourished children move like elderly people around her. Beynech's crops failed last year, she is sick and two of her children have malaria.

"We are becoming thinner and sick. I worry because I do not have enough food for my family," she says. "I am losing hope. I may have to bury one of my children. I may have to bury two of my children. We can only trust in God who has provided before."

Concludes Ian Wallace of Tearfund: "Significant strides have been made by Ethiopians in recent years to solve their chronic food problems. But there will be no overnight transformation. While working with Ethiopians in tackling their long-term problems, we will still be required to respond to crises such as the current food shortages."

One long-term project offering hope for the future, in the southern district of Sodo, is seeing 500 families harvesting several times this year - despite the drought - thanks to a simple irrigation canal run from a river 13km away.

Mashusha Banaba (20) who works a half-acre farm for a family of five, declares: "Before we used this water system we depended completely upon the rain, but it did not always come. This year I have planted two crops of maize, haricot beans and ginger. We no longer go hungry."

Tearfund's Horn of Africa Appeal will be launched on Monday June 16th 2003. Donations to the Tearfund Horn of Africa Appeal can be made by calling 0845 355 8355 or by sending a cheque made out to Tearfund to Emergency Appeal, Tearfund FREEPOST, LON 23028, Sheffield S98 1XA.

A 10 minute prayer video for the unfolding emergency in Ethiopia and Eritrea is available from Tearfund (#3.50) is available. Call 0845 355 8355 or email enquiry@tearfund.org.

Web site: www.tearfund.org

Anglican Communion News Service