WFP and you: Saving Lives in Ethiopia

By Karen Sendelback - President & CEO, August 05, 2008 06:59 PM

Meskerem and Senait, 11 and 9 years old, lost their parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and fled to Ethiopia in the hopes of finding a safer life. They were entirely dependent on their older brother, Gezahegn for financial support. Gezahegn tried to feed himself and his siblings by washing clothes and doing other chores for neighbors but his wages were never enough. Meskerem and Senait also tried to contribute by selling small items like chewing gum and cigarettes on the streets and in bars. But their lives were fraught with the constant threat of theft and abuse.

The children discovered World Food Program (WFP) assistance through a local NGO that catered to refugee street children. “We had nothing to eat,” Gezahegn recalls. “All we could do was sit and stare at each other in agony.” The NGO found Meskerem and Senait on the street and offered them shelter and the opportunity to apply for support from WFP. “Thanks to this organization, we are still alive,” Gezahegn says. “Had it not been for the food aid, we might have died or would have become destitute street children.”

In 2007, it was estimated that some 1.36 million people, many of them children just like Meskerem and Senait, were in desperate need of emergency food assistance in Ethiopia – one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. For years the country has experienced large-scale problems of chronic food shortages and, as a result, has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. More than five droughts in two decades, seasons of flooding and limited rural development push Ethiopia to the constant brink of a hunger epidemic.

More than 38 percent of children under five are underweight, and over 1.3 million people in Ethiopia are living with HIV/AIDS. Ethiopia is also currently hosting more than 83,000 refugees from Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan who have sought safety from political conflict in their homelands and are completely dependent on WFP supplies for survival.

Recently, the Ethiopian government appealed to WFP for an increase in provisions to feed their starving population and refugees. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Addisu Legesse, announced that the government needs an additional $430 million to adequately address food shortages.

“Ethiopia is facing a perfect storm with soaring food prices and a devastating drought,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. “We hear the government’s plea, support it, and are moving to reach all we can.” However, WFP urgently needs additional contributions to reach all those in need.

WFP is currently providing emergency food assistance to 3.2 million people in Ethiopia. But, in response to Ethiopia’s appeal, WFP plans to scale up operations to reach 4.6 million people in the hopes of avoiding thousands of hunger-related deaths in coming months.

Thank you for your support of this life-changing WFP operation. It is generous donors like you who have allowed Friends of the World Food Program to help finance WFP in assisting the vulnerable populations residing Ethiopia.

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