History repeats itself in Ethiopia
Aid officials say international donors have been distracted by crises in Syria and other parts of the world
Members of a community in Chelko, Ethiopia, wait to receive their rationing of food supplies, which could include wheat, oil and split peas. Due to food shortages, rationing and distribution can often be based on a regional rotation.
Aside from fetching firewood for cooking, women are also responsible for fetching water for drinking and cooking. With limited water supply, women dig holes across the bare land in hopes of reaching the water table. The daily chore can take several hours and often yields murky water.
Paul Schemm- February 22, 2016
Ethiopia is in the grip of a devastating drought sparked by the worst El Niño in a generation, and aid agencies warn that food aid could run out as soon as May.
Unlike in the past, the government and aid groups have kept food shipments flowing to areas ravaged by drought in recent months. But they need more money, at a time when international donors are distracted by a string of humanitarian disasters around the world.
Ethiopia burned itself into the West’s collective memory with the horrific famines of 1973 and 1984, when hundreds of thousands starved to death and images of dying children appeared on the world’s television screens.
Since that time, the government has struggled to shed this image of the world’s charity case by turning Ethiopia into Africa’s new economic juggernaut, with a decade of 10 percent annual growth. Barring natural disasters, the country is also practically self-sufficient in food.
There has also been a concerted effort in cooperation with international aid agencies to create safety nets to ensure that the kind of famine that inspired the 1985 Live Aid concert would never happen again.
These days, early warning systems alert the government when famine threatens, and in 2015, these kicked into action after the spring and summer rains failed, leaving herders trapped in desert pastures and farmers with extensive crop failures across the north and east of the country.
The drought is caused in part by the El Niño warming phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean, a cyclical phenomenon that many scientists say has intensified in recent years because of global climate change. It has disrupted rains in different parts of the continent, with South Africa and Zimbabwe experiencing drought as well.
At first, some in the Ethiopian government claimed the country could handle the drought itself. But as the numbers of needy skyrocketed, authorities issued an appeal.
In December, they said about 10.2 million people were in need of $1.4 billion in aid, with 400,000 children severely malnourished. This is in addition to 8 million people supported by the government safety net even before the drought. To date, 46 percent of the appeal has been met, and the worst could be yet to come.
