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06/13/2002
Kenya
Food, Blankets and Mosquito Nets
for the Victims of
Tana
River
The
victims of Kenya floods:
"Your aid is truly a river, that
had come not to kill, but to nourish all the people who were
suffering in this remote part of Africa".
More than 20.000 people lost their homes, and
about 100 died in Kenya due to the torrential rains which hit the East
Africa, causing floods in areas nearby the Lake Victoria.
Especially in Kenya, Western districts of Kisumu, Murang'a, Nakuru and the
Tana river area were
devastated.
Heavy
rains caused land slides which swept livestock, cultivated lands and
thousands of houses. Many people found a shelter in churches and schools,
which usually are stronger buildings.
Every year during the rainy season, Kenya is affected by floods - the last
as heavy as this year were in 1998- but there is not any form of prevention.
The situation is critical, due to the high incidence of Malaria and other
infections.
The Kenya Red Cross lunched an appeal in order to relieve the victims of the
disaster and the Community of Sant'Egidio immediately mobilised itself to
send and distribute aid.
Blankets and mosquito nets were bought, they were distributed to 1100
families. Food distribution reached other 200 families, so 1200 people as a
whole.
The story in a letter, sent by the Community of Sant'Egidio in Nairobi:
"When some of the members
from the Nairobi Community of Sant Egidio and Red Cross visited Garsen in
Tana River District on June 4th 2002, we were surprised by the number of
people affected by floods. The local people had to walk through the
waist-high waters and drove their animals out of the flooded homes in
desperate search for shelter and grazing land. The children were sick from
malaria and many adults suffered from a variety of waterborne diseases. We
talked with the District Officer of Garsen, and the chiefs of the most
affected areas, in order to transport the aid that had been donated by the
Community of Sant Egidio. The area surrounding Tana River was among the
areas that was worst hit by the floods in Kenya. The members of the
Community in Nairobi, we volunteered worked to distribute food, blankets,
mosquito nets and tents to the affected families. With the aid sent by
Europe it was possible to purchase 1000 blankets and 1000 mosquito nets.
This will greatly assist over 1100 families in this region who would
otherwise be affected by malaria and other diseases. We used the local boats
and trucks to cross areas that were partly infested with crocodiles. Finally
we managed to reach some of the villages. We managed to distribute, together
with the parish priest of the Catholic church, blankets, mosquito nets and
food to 196 families in this region (over 1186 individuals). As we finished
distributing the food some of the women from the villages gathered to thank
us for our concern for their community and their families. To them -they
said- the Comunity of Sant Egidio was truly a river that had come not to
kill them, but to nourish all the people who were suffering in this remote
part of Kenya."
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