Cafod: helping the people help themselves

This is a story from the Eastern part of the Horn of Africa, where some ten million people are facing devastating drought, where too many are in the grips of famine.

Very poor rains this year have led to crop failure, serious food and water shortages, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals which represent vital livestock for whole communities in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Humanitarian agencies are warning that unless rains fall in October, the situation can only get worse.

But this is actually a story of hope. Because as CAFOD’s Pascale Palmer points out, drought doesn’t have to become famine if the people are prepared and long term programmes are bearing their fruit.

Linda Bordoni spoke to Pascale Palmer who is one of CAFOD’s senior media officers immediately after her return from the Borana region in the South of Ethiopia.

CAFOD is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development whose mandate is to help provide development and relief in countries that are tackling poverty and emergencies.

There she met with CAFOD partners working to support communities to overcome the devastating impact of this years drought.

Palmer explains that with the money raised by CAFOD, the organization is working through its partners to ease the suffering of thousands of people in Borana, who have been left with nothing.

But drought doesn't last a month or even a few months - Borana hasn't had proper rains since March last year. That means that people's safety nets have gone, they haven't had time to recover as one drought leads to another.

She talks about how CAFOD's long term projects are currently bearing their fruit and while - she says - the people are hard hit by the drought and struggling to survive - their resilience and their capacity to diversify, engaging in new ways to earn a livelihood, are such that they are proving that drought doesn't have to become famine.

On this CAFOD Harvest Fast Day ( October 7^th), the organisation is asking for continued support for CAFOD’s work with communities of Borana and many others across the East and Horn of Africa who have been hit hard by this drought.

listen to the full interview...