The corona crisis, a devastating plague of locusts, rising food prices, conflict and persistent drought, partly due to climate change: the Horn of Africa is taking blow after blow. More than thirteen million people have too little to eat.
But there is not enough money to help these people, says the UN food aid agency WFP. This has to do with the fact that other crisis areas also demand attention and need help, such as Yemen and Ukraine.
seven cows
Years ago, in the village of Showli in northern Kenya, they owned thousands of cows, sheep, goats and camels. Now only seven cows walk through the village, looking for a blade of grass. They only find old cardboard to chew on. The animals are skin and bones. In the morning they can only get up and stand on their feet with the help of the owner, they are so weakened.
Because there is nothing to eat and nothing to drink. In the far periphery all water pools are empty. “We keep our last animals alive by making maize porridge for them and we give them water that we truck from the city,” said village elder Daoud Mohammed. “This is the worst drought I’ve seen in my 50-plus years of life.”
In the bone-dry area, the consequences are visible everywhere, and the despair is palpable. We went to see:
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