Caritas Kenya will be providing food and water to 30, 420 families living in the most drought-affected parts of the country over the next six months. This far-reaching emergency relief program, which will help over 180,000 people, will cost a total of $5.6 million.
Development and Peace, which is the Canadian member of the Caritas Internationalis federation, is contributing $350,000 to this humanitarian assistance.
"This emergency operation will provide food and water in 14 dioceses until the beginning of 2012," says Danielle Gobeil, responsible for emergencies at Development and Peace. "We also plan to support families through the distribution of seeds and livestock. This how they will be able to regain their livelihoods," she added.
The program will also help communities to rehabilitate and gain better access to local water sources. Caritas Kenya is the development and aid agency of the Catholic Conference of Bishops of Kenya.
Development and Peace also continues to be in contact with its other partners in the Horn of Africa, a region that includes Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti and is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years, to assess the needs of those most vulnerable. The organization has so far collected $1.5 million in donations from Canadians for this crisis. It predicts that the needs of the population will continue to grow over the coming weeks if expected rains are insufficient, and it is committed to maintaining its support in the region for several months, even after the first phase of the emergency is over.
The Canadian Government has put in place a program to match donations for the Horn of Africa. For each dollar donated to Development and Peace by September 16th, the Canadian Government will place a matching dollar in its East Africa Relief Fund for the victims of this drought.
Donations can be made by telephone (1 888 234-8533), on our website www.devp.org or by sending a cheque made out to Development and Peace and indicating Horn of Africa Drought to:
Development and Peace
1425 René-Lévesque Blvd. West. 3rd Floor
Montreal QC H3G 1T7
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For more information please contact:
Kelly Di Domenico, Communications Officer
514 257-8710 ext. 365
kelly.didomenico@devp.org