East Africa Response

By Daniel Vestal
Sept. 1, 2011

I want to ask for your help to transform the lives of suffering people in East Africa. While Americans are fixated on the fluctuations of the stock market and fretting over their retirement plans, millions of Africans are struggling to survive. East Africa is experiencing its worst famine in the last 60 years and the United Nations has declared a state of emergency. Catastrophic conditions exist, and many are migrating as refugees from Somalia into Kenya and Ethiopia.

 The famine is easily blamed on lack of rainfall and food shortages. However, the crisis is more multi-faceted and complex with deep roots in poverty and exploitation. While the scarcity of food and water is real, the situation is compounded by spiritual darkness, political oppression, war and mismanagement of resources. CBF’s strategy is to be active in both relief and development dynamics of the crisis with a stronger emphasis on addressing the root causes.

The nearly 750,000 people in refugee camps are managed by the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNHCR) and respective agencies to provide food, water, shelter and medicine. These are large scale efforts in Kenya and Ethiopia backed by the resources of contributing nations. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship already has a presence in these countries through field personnel and reliable partners. So our efforts will utilize existing relationships to encourage long term solutions of the issues that plague this region.

I think it is important for you to know that at least two global Baptist bodies have already provided funding through CBF to assist with this response. Baptist World Aid and the BMS World Mission (UK) have both committed $25,000 respectively to this effort. We are grateful for their partnership in meeting this great challenge.

CBF Response

While CBF is not a disaster response agency, we are well-positioned to build on existing relationships established by our field personnel in the area as well as partnerships built over years of collaboration. Our efforts will make a significant difference in the lives of East Africans suffering from the famine. Pathways for immediate response in medicine, feeding and water are possible if the funding is available. On our website is a more detailed response plan.

We will support strategic feeding and medical efforts among Somali groups in northeastern Kenya at or near Garissa. This effort will be in partnership with Bulla Iftin, an integrated Child Development Center (ICDC) and also a group of Somali health practitioners (SIMAHO) with whom we have been in partnership for more than six years. In both of these places we are concerned with holistic issues including water, sanitation, nutrition, education, malaria prevention, deworming and micronutrient as well as outreach to the greater community through capacity building and income generation.

We will also work alongside local committees and coordinators in northwestern Kenya for outreach in Nakwijit and Sigor locations to provide nutrient supplement for immune-compromised persons, develop emergency water resources where applicable, prevent infection and spread of malaria to already compromised communities. These local committees and coordinators have already formed and will be the basis for gathering information and suggesting methods for intervention.

We will support efforts to provide access to safe drinking water in the Borana Zone and Guji Zone of south Ethiopia. Seven Baptist churches affiliated with the Addis Kidan church will serve as the base of operations. This water development work will be integrated into on-going plans for the local church to bring long-term transformational development.

We will also support strategic but limited medical/feeding work that will focus on at-risk women and children in the refugee camps in Dolo Ado region of Ethiopia and also help to distribute food items at the giant Dadaab camp in Kenya. This effort will be in partnership with Conscience International (CI), the MCM Hospital in Addis Ababa and local Ethiopian medical staff who will implement the project within the parameters and regulations of Ethiopian law. We will also work in cooperation with international agencies and non-governmental organizations tasked with refugee aid.

How You Can Be Involved 

First, you can pray. Ask God to have mercy and give help to the displaced and suffering of East Africa. Ask God to guide those involved in relief/response to this famine. Ask God for wisdom as CBF discerns the best way to invest the resources entrusted to us.

Second, you can give. Designate your special offerings to “CBF East Africa Response” and it will be used for this effort. Please know that 5 percent of your designated offering will be used to help administrate this aid. The rest of your gift will go directly to famine relief.

Third, stay informed. Our website will have periodic updates on the progress of relief and development efforts as will the CBF East Africa Famine response network page. There are other sources of information about what is happening in the region and what is being done to provide help. Let your conscience be stirred and your consciousness be raised by keeping yourself informed.

Finally, participate in a network of people, churches and partners who are responding to this crisis. By clicking on "Like" on the network page, you will be able to connect, to stay in touch with what others are doing and to make a difference among the most neglected. 

A Final Word

A crisis like this one can sometimes overwhelm us as we consider the complex political, spiritual, environmental and economic issues that have created it.  Our approach as the people and churches of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has always been to focus our efforts on long-term transformation of the particular communities to which God beckons us and to work through field personnel and partners who have on-the-ground knowledge of how best to address the challenges. To this end, I invite your participation in this united effort by CBF churches, people and partners to be the presence of Christ among the most neglected peoples of East Africa.

Daniel Vestal has served as executive coordinator since 1996.