(05,10,2011, Wales online)--A CHARITY volunteer who has just returned from southern Ethiopia says the region faces devastation unless there is rain during October.
Retired publisher John Fellows, who lives in Grangetown in Cardiff, travelled to the north east African country with three colleagues from the Catholic aid organisation Cafod.
He said: “We visited the drought-stricken region Borana, where there has been no rain for 18 months. “Around 300,000 livestock have died in that period and it has now reached a point where unless there is rain this month there will be a catastrophe.” John said that Cafod and its partner organisations were helping people cope with the drought as best they could.
“The most amazing thing I saw was a well that had been silted up for 21 years that has been reopened. It’s now providing water for people from a long distance away. I saw girls who had walked for six hours to fill up jerry cans who then had to take the same time to walk back.
“This is the longest drought in living memory. The climate is certainly changing, though whether that’s down to ‘climate change’ I’m not sure. The people there are doing their best to survive, but a number of them said that if there’s no rain before the end of October, there will be no Borana.”
Cafod spokeswoman Pascale Palmer, who was also on the trip to Ethiopia, said: “The United Nations has described the situation in parts of East Africa as the worst drought conditions in the last 60 years.
“It is predicted that 10 million people need emergency relief – but as the crisis worsens, the number affected is likely to rise. Acute malnutrition levels are increasing at an alarming rate.
“For millions of pastoralists, cattle are like a living bank: they are the main assets that people own. When their cattle die, pastoralists don’t have the means to feed their families.”
On Friday, Cafod is organising a Harvest Fast Day, aimed at helping the world’s poorest people. Donations can be made via the website www.cafod.org.uk
Source: Wales online
Retired publisher John Fellows, who lives in Grangetown in Cardiff, travelled to the north east African country with three colleagues from the Catholic aid organisation Cafod.
He said: “We visited the drought-stricken region Borana, where there has been no rain for 18 months. “Around 300,000 livestock have died in that period and it has now reached a point where unless there is rain this month there will be a catastrophe.” John said that Cafod and its partner organisations were helping people cope with the drought as best they could.
“The most amazing thing I saw was a well that had been silted up for 21 years that has been reopened. It’s now providing water for people from a long distance away. I saw girls who had walked for six hours to fill up jerry cans who then had to take the same time to walk back.
“This is the longest drought in living memory. The climate is certainly changing, though whether that’s down to ‘climate change’ I’m not sure. The people there are doing their best to survive, but a number of them said that if there’s no rain before the end of October, there will be no Borana.”
Cafod spokeswoman Pascale Palmer, who was also on the trip to Ethiopia, said: “The United Nations has described the situation in parts of East Africa as the worst drought conditions in the last 60 years.
“It is predicted that 10 million people need emergency relief – but as the crisis worsens, the number affected is likely to rise. Acute malnutrition levels are increasing at an alarming rate.
“For millions of pastoralists, cattle are like a living bank: they are the main assets that people own. When their cattle die, pastoralists don’t have the means to feed their families.”
On Friday, Cafod is organising a Harvest Fast Day, aimed at helping the world’s poorest people. Donations can be made via the website www.cafod.org.uk
Source: Wales online
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