They shuffle across the dirt threshold. The older ones lean on others for support. Some are too weak to walk and are transported in on a mattress by a team of concerned relatives. Younger children are carried, limp and listless in the arms of their worried parents. All in obvious signs of distress. They do not know what’s wrong with them. They only hope the medical staff of the Canadian Red Cross Health Emergency Response Unit (ERU) can help them feel better.
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Martin de Vries, a Canadian Red Cross aid worker currently in Ethiopia as part of the Africa drought response, shares how the first rainfall of the year brings joy to a community, but doesn't mean the end of the drought.
Red Cross efforts continue in response to the ongoing severe drought affecting millions of people in several countries in Africa. These photos depicting water distribution by the Ethiopia Red Cross are provided by Canadian Red Cross communications aid worker Kathy Mueller, who is currently in Ethiopia.
The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world. Here is an update on Red Cross response to flooding in Peru, delivering aid in Syria, and the drought in Africa.
Ethiopia is currently experiencing a number of disasters, including drought and conflict, especially in Eastern and Southern Ethiopia are currently in the grip of a severe drought, the result of failed spring and autumn rains in 2016. Millions are impacted. The Canadian Red Cross is working with the Ethiopia Red Cross to help strengthen their capacity to respond to disasters and emergencies.
With severe drought threatening the lives of millions of people in eastern Africa, urgent food assistance will be needed for an estimated 15 million people in the three countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya alone. It is considered the worst drought in decades. David Fogden, Canadian Red Cross disaster management delegate, was one of these team members to visit hard-hit areas and saw how the drought has a cascading effect on livelihoods, families and communities.
The worst drought in decades threatens to leave tens of millions of people in the region of eastern and southern Africa without enough food. Canadian Red Cross CEO Conrad Sauvé and other Canadian Red Cross representatives were in Ethiopia this week to meet with the Ethiopian Red Cross.