The drought in East Africa is an urgent humanitarian crisis, but one which also highlights the underlying problems people face in having sustainable and affordable access to food. It was well known that failing rains would affect farmers, pastoralists and other communities, yet governments haven’t done enough to protect them. Now their lives and livelihoods […]
Hanura Awalay sits cross-legged in the midday sun, her hands hidden inside a loose robe. It’s the same colour as the sky: a light, soft blue, once again. Here in the remote community of Gobablay, in the Shinile zone of southern Ethiopia, there has been too little rain. Hanura, who has nine children, has lived […]
14 celebrities from the world of music, literature and fashion have signed an open letter about the East Africa food crisis: “East Africa is facing the worst food crisis of the 21st century. Livestock are dying, markets are empty, food prices are rocketing and people are starving. Levels of acute malnutrition among refugees fleeing Somalia […]
For a village in drought-hit Ethiopia, a single new borehole can change people’s lives: Hindeysa is a remote community in Somali region of eastern Ethiopia – so remote, in fact, that we get lost weaving between sparse trees, looking for signs of life amongst sandy red earth. And it’s not the only thing around here […]
Oxfam today launched its largest ever appeal in Africa in response to a massive food crisis facing more than 12 million people across Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. The agency needs £50 million to reach 3 million people in dire need of clean water, food and basic sanitation. “This is the worst food crisis of the […]
Two successive poor rains and bad policies have left the Horn of Africa facing the worst regional food crisis of the 21st century. Parts of the region are suffering the driest year in six decades. In many areas the next rainy season is not until October – which even then is not guaranteed – and […]
Africa needs a new food future in the face of spiralling food prices, chronic droughts, and unfair land policies, Oxfam said today, as it launched a new global “GROW” campaign to fix the world’s broken food system. Increasing resource constraints threaten food supplies and are fuelling competition for land, water and other resources. Decades of […]
We trundled in a truck through Tigray, Ethiopia’s northernmost region, towards the village of Boye Gararsa. A remote district of rocky hills and plains, plagued by lack of water. In 2008, the situation became critical when rains failed to come, triggering acute food and water shortages. Together with the government and a local partner – […]
Atsbha Abraha was just seven when he and his mother were forcibly resettled in a western region of Ethiopia. Years of hardship followed – and the beginnings of a lifelong hunger for learning.
In the hardscrabble landscape of southern Ethiopia, some herders are now trying to till the soil and raise crops. But so much depends on the rain. Will it come when it’s needed? It’s been years since the grasses of Deed Liben grew tall, ensuring a safe haven for wildlife and abundant nutrition for the herds […]
Drought is worsening in the Horn of Africa – leaving around 8 million people across parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia struggling to get enough to eat. A common response to the crisis is to ship in food aid, particularly from the USA. Yet food aid often has low nutritional value, inadequate for the needs […]
Over eight million people are now facing severe food and water shortages after a life-threatening drought worsened in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, a consortium of leading British aid agencies hosted by Save the Children and including Oxfam has warned. The Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) says a lack of seasonal rains has led to […]
