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Volunteers come to the aid of famine victims in Wolayita

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By Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu in Wolayita
International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies

In Wolayita, one of the most affected areas of Ethiopia, recurrent drought has reduced to almost nothing the availability of food for a chronically food-insecure population. The seasonal rains failed last year and again in the first two months of 2008. Crops that would normally have helped to sustain families through the past four months have not been available.

In the village of Bibiso, for Alena Seta and his wife Alkase Ayele the food distribution could not have come at a better moment.

‘We already ate all the planting seeds we had. Without rain there was no reason to plant. We ate the cow; sold the ox. The sheep died. A family member gave me a calf but it is too young and skinny to be of any use,’ says Alena.

This morning the children had some buna (coffee) and some maize. Lunch does not figure on the family menu. For diner Alena considers cutting the inset, also calledfalse banana tree and boil the potato like fruits inside its trunk.

Families have not managed to produce any food at all for the past nine months. Cows and sheep that are usually sold to provide cash to buy food have also died or are too weak to sell. Planting seeds have dried up or been eaten.

Each village has a traditional leadership structure called Timata, a council of elders which gives advice, rules and delivers judgments. Some 40,000 beneficiaries were identified for a four-month emergency food distribution.

Alena’s neighbour, Ingda Birhanu, is a Red Cross volunteer since 1997. The 37 year-old farmer shares the same living conditions and problems as his neighbours. He labours a quarter of a hectare of land belonging to the government which even in a good season will not produce enough to feed his family of four.

Birhanu’s only income is from selling vegetables or from odd jobs in town. He can not afford renting ox for ploughing, so just like his neighbour, he uses tools that one would describe as prehistoric.

But the Red Cross volunteer does not even question his availability to help others. ‘Thank God, I am healthy and so is the rest of the family. My cow is alive. I should not complain,’ he says while patting the animal whom he shelters under the same roof as his family.

Like Birhanu, 200 volunteers from Lera, Damota Pulassa, Sodo, Boditi or Bibiso have answered the call of the Ethiopian Red Cross.

The current rise in prices over basic commodities in Ethiopia has contributed to a further deterioration in the food security situation of the most vulnerable people. The Ethiopian government estimates that 4.5 million people are in need of emergency food aid, more than one million more than an earlier estimate of 3.4 million. According to authorities, only 33 per cent of the food requirement can be covered.

‘It is a combination of poverty, minimal assets and high food prices which make it difficult for families to access additional provisions from an already weakened market’, explains Nancy Balfour, disaster management coordinator for Eastern Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), stressing that climate change patterns are obvious in the current crisis.

Drinking water is yet an additional problem. Across the area 40 wells dried up because of rain shortage but also because they were hand dug and only 10 metres deep. All the 80 water springs have dried up as well. Children are sent to fetch water from the Shappa river, up to three hours walking distance away. The Ethiopian and Swedish Red Cross are already planning spring protection activities with two springs repaired during the coming months.

‘Families do not recover quickly from food crises and rains do not produce immediate food,’ adds Balfour. Red Cross Red Crescent estimates that it takes three to five years of continuous support and favourable conditions for a community to achieve complete recovery.

Revival work is about to be launched alongside emergency relief. This would include activities that would enable affected families to possess tools and seeds as well as livestock as soon as there is adequate rain to plant or graze animals.

In the longer term, farmers and pastoralists need more drought-resistant production systems. In March 2008, the IFRC has launched a 45 million Swiss franc long-term food security initiative targeting 15 countries across Africa, including Ethiopia. It aims to improve overall food security for families at high risk from drought and other climate related disasters and assist in building resilience so that the rapid escalation of malnutrition can be avoided in future.
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Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu is Federation’s Communication Manager for Eastern Africa

4 thoughts on “Volunteers come to the aid of famine victims in Wolayita

  1. This is the problem of Administration in Wolaita region. Simon Mechalle, Teshomo Toga and Hailemariam Desalegn were born in Wollaita region and they didn’t mention any thing about this situation to the gov’t. They are self centered and HODAM. This people took power by cheating the Wollaita people voice. No body like this people except their clan (EZIA).

  2. Just six months ago, I was in Wolayita, one of the most fertile and beautiful regions of the South. There was plenty of food in the market as well as the restaurants. One restaurant owner in central Soddo city said he slaughtered a dozen of sheep a day. A decent meal in Bekele Molla Hotel where tourists, expatriates, wealthy businessmen and local professionls and government officials frequented, cost about Birr 20. Looking at the surface it seemed like everything was OK. It can be very misleading though,to an outsider, like myself who could see the green vegetation surrounding the Damota Mountain. My team bought a bunch of banana, very short and typical to Wolayita for only Birr 1.00 on our way from Shonie to Boditi. Kids seemed to have been enjoying school. There was no visible sign of famine. However, as it the case with other parts of Ethiopia, food production, preservation and distribution are not mechanized. Farm land is extremely scarce. Except for the lights in dark nights, one can hardly differntiate the rural from the urban area. Wolayita has been unbelievably over-populated, over-grazed and over-cultivated since 1960’s. Despite the critical situation, Nortern Ethiopians affected by recurrent famine have been settling in the lowlands of Wolayita. This might be because the Wolayita people are very welcoming, docile and hospitable due mainly to their compssionate culture of receiving strangers, although this may be true in many parts of Ethiopia. Even before the Protestant relgiosity dominated the popular customs, Wolayita was a “Walaheta”, meaning “mixture” of ethnicities. Apparently, one can observe a veritable Ethiopian ethos where unity and diversity converge. Uniquely, it is an open society to the core. Woayitans, both ethnic and exotic take pride in their Wolayitan root as much as their Ethiopian identity. I have yet to see an exotic Wolayitan, be he/she, Gurage,Tigre, Amhara, Hadiya, Oromo, etc., not wishing to live and die in Wonderful Wolayita.

    Now, I would to appeal to every one, Ethiopian and others alike, to help this small multi-ethnic community of Ethiopians, the Wolayita people, at the time of their need.

    The other area most affected, I believe is Kambata, another rugged mountainous region, densely populated. Passing trough Hadero-Shinshicho area, I spotted malnourished children there. Let us do whatever we can to save our people.

    We may have every reason to blame each other. Mind also, that we will always have enough and oportune time to blame one another. I believe we should first save the people and then prosecute the culprits, if any. If we start blaming each other, we will be stuck in the mud and render unproductive. Let us be proactive.

    May God Bless Ethiopia and Ethiopians everywhere.

  3. Hi all,
    I’m wondering how many of us willing to change the lives of these people in this country /Ethiopia/. I mean change not talk! Let me put my point in plain words, if we have one tractor with little irrigation, what will be the outcome?How may farm tractors do we have? I always think of long lasting change! We’ve been known for centuries as absolute poor people /beggars/on the face of the earth; however, we have abundant natural resources to change the face of this country if we all agree with one and only one purpose, i.e., changing/improving the old way (primitive) way of farming. I’m sure I didn’t exaggerate, yes we do have waters, we do have lands for cultivation. Think of just water by itself, it can bring a 99% change if we manage and use it appropriately/effectively. I am not member of any group, I’m part of you all. I would like to join you all who are working and will work for the best of this country and people.
    Thanks
    Sileshi

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