Kenya Drought Aid Ukraine WEB
Metadata
- Kenya Drought Aid Ukraine WEB
- July 25, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV KENYA DROUGHT AID UKRAINE HEADLINE: Inside Global Efforts to Help Drought-Hit Communities in Northern Kenya TEASER: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven up food prices, leaving aid groups struggling to help affected communities PUBLISHED: 07/25/2022 at 9:20 am BYLINE: Juma Majanga DATELINE: Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya VIDEOGRAPHER: Jimmy Makhulo VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Cobus, djones approval VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:36 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[Record drought in the Horn of Africa has tens of millions of people facing malnutrition and hunger across Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven up food prices, leaving aid groups struggling to help affected communities as they head toward a failed rainy season for a fifth straight year. Juma Majanga reports from Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya.]] ((NARRATOR)) Even from a distance, the signs of distress are visible. Moving closer, the desperate situation becomes more vivid. On a World Vision-organized trip for journalists, VOA witnessed the devastating impact of the on-going drought in Kenya’s northern frontier. With livelihoods diminished families here have been left to survive on inedible berries known as edung in Turkana. ((Ape Lokoukimat, Parapul Resident (Turkana, 15 secs)) “The drought came and killed all our livestock that we used to depend on. Now we have been left with nothing. All we can eat are these edung [wild berries].” ((NARRATOR)) Lokoukimat must cook the wild berries for three days to make them edible and reduce their harm to the body. Residents say it gives the children diarrhea, but it helps them survive. The mother provides for her five young children because her husband is sick and unable to help. Epakan Ekiru, a 19-year-old mother of two, lives a few steps away. Her husband left two years ago with their herd to look for pasture and water. She’s afraid the wild berries will run out. ((Epakan Ekiru)) ((Swahili, 13 secs)) “For now, we are eating these wild berries. If they get finished, we’ll die! There will be nothing else to eat.” ((NARRATOR)) Kenya declared the drought a national disaster in September 2021 with nearly 3.5 million people at risk of acute hunger and in need of humanitarian assistance. That includes more than half of the population in Marsabit County, according to government figures. Children and women are the most affected. Officials say sometimes the government’s food relief and cash transfers to the most vulnerable are not enough. ((Stephen Mavina, Marsabit Deputy County Commissioner ((English, 20 secs)) “I’ve had cases where people come to the offices, and they stay put even if there is no relief food from the government. You have to go back into your pocket and give them something so that they go back home and buy something to eat.” ((NARRATOR)) The soaring food prices resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine have affected humanitarian aid operations, making the situation even worse. ((John Paul Amakoni, World Vision International ((English, 27 secs)) “In the communities we visited, ideally they should be getting 100% of their rations but by now because there are pipeline breaks of commodities, because of the shortages created, we could only give them 55% of their food.” ((NARRATOR)) For residents of Purapul village, the nearest health center is over 60 kilometers away. Twice a month, the aid group World Vision helps severely malnourished children and pregnant women. Officials say many can no longer afford to make the trip themselves, as the drought has claimed their livestock, their only source of income. Drought is not new to this region. But experts say as climate change accelerates the intensity and frequency of drought, and events like Russia’s war in Ukraine worsen the problem, many worry the hunger crisis in East Africa will be forgotten. ((Juma Majanga, for VOA News, Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV KENYA DROUGHT AID UKRAINE HEADLINE: Inside Global Efforts to Help Drought-Hit Communities in Northern Kenya TEASER: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven up food prices, leaving aid groups struggling to help affected communities PUBLISHED: 07/25/2022 at 9:20 am BYLINE: Juma Majanga DATELINE: Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya VIDEOGRAPHER: Jimmy Makhulo VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Cobus, djones approval VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:36 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[Record drought in the Horn of Africa has tens of millions of people facing malnutrition and hunger across Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven up food prices, leaving aid groups struggling to help affected communities as they head toward a failed rainy season for a fifth straight year. Juma Majanga reports from Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya.]] ((NARRATOR)) Even from a distance, the signs of distress are visible. Moving closer, the desperate situation becomes more vivid. On a World Vision-organized trip for journalists, VOA witnessed the devastating impact of the on-going drought in Kenya’s northern frontier. With livelihoods diminished families here have been left to survive on inedible berries known as edung in Turkana. ((Ape Lokoukimat, Parapul Resident (Turkana, 15 secs)) “The drought came and killed all our livestock that we used to depend on. Now we have been left with nothing. All we can eat are these edung [wild berries].” ((NARRATOR)) Lokoukimat must cook the wild berries for three days to make them edible and reduce their harm to the body. Residents say it gives the children diarrhea, but it helps them survive. The mother provides for her five young children because her husband is sick and unable to help. Epakan Ekiru, a 19-year-old mother of two, lives a few steps away. Her husband left two years ago with their herd to look for pasture and water. She’s afraid the wild berries will run out. ((Epakan Ekiru)) ((Swahili, 13 secs)) “For now, we are eating these wild berries. If they get finished, we’ll die! There will be nothing else to eat.” ((NARRATOR)) Kenya declared the drought a national disaster in September 2021 with nearly 3.5 million people at risk of acute hunger and in need of humanitarian assistance. That includes more than half of the population in Marsabit County, according to government figures. Children and women are the most affected. Officials say sometimes the government’s food relief and cash transfers to the most vulnerable are not enough. ((Stephen Mavina, Marsabit Deputy County Commissioner ((English, 20 secs)) “I’ve had cases where people come to the offices, and they stay put even if there is no relief food from the government. You have to go back into your pocket and give them something so that they go back home and buy something to eat.” ((NARRATOR)) The soaring food prices resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine have affected humanitarian aid operations, making the situation even worse. ((John Paul Amakoni, World Vision International ((English, 27 secs)) “In the communities we visited, ideally they should be getting 100% of their rations but by now because there are pipeline breaks of commodities, because of the shortages created, we could only give them 55% of their food.” ((NARRATOR)) For residents of Purapul village, the nearest health center is over 60 kilometers away. Twice a month, the aid group World Vision helps severely malnourished children and pregnant women. Officials say many can no longer afford to make the trip themselves, as the drought has claimed their livestock, their only source of income. Drought is not new to this region. But experts say as climate change accelerates the intensity and frequency of drought, and events like Russia’s war in Ukraine worsen the problem, many worry the hunger crisis in East Africa will be forgotten. ((Juma Majanga, for VOA News, Loiyangalani, Marsabit, Kenya))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date July 25, 2022 09:35 EDT
- Byline Juma Majanga
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America