John, You might not have seen it on the news, but refugee and displaced families in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, in East Africa are at the center of a disaster. They’re facing a hunger crisis that is reaching unimaginable proportions, the scale of which we have never seen before. This hidden hunger crisis might not be on the news agenda but it is something my colleagues and I are seeing every day. That’s why, as an existing supporter, we want to take you on a journey and tell you the stories of the people hardest hit by this crisis – refugees and displaced families in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. We’ve all felt the impact of the global economic downturn and shockwaves of the war in Ukraine. But its force is most devastating across this region of Africa. As droughts and climate change wreak havoc on these countries, food becomes scarcer as there is less water and viable farmland. These food shortages in turn, cause conflicts, exacerbate existing tensions and force more people to flee in search of food and safety. As if this wasn’t bad enough, prices for the little food that’s left keep on rising. The people hardest hit by this food crisis are refugees and displaced people who are already extremely vulnerable, with little resources to grow or buy their own food. Inflated prices mean they are even less able to provide for their families. The most basic food becomes simply unaffordable. Every day, my colleagues and I are meeting people on the ground who are telling us about the horrors they face and the impossibly difficult decisions they are having to make just to keep their families alive. “All I think about is how I’m going to feed my children. Last night, they did not eat. This morning, I gave them some porridge. The children cry but I have nothing more to give them.” This is the painful story that Samira Samouw Abdi recently told me when I met her at a nutrition clinic in a refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Somali region. I’ve been working in the East and Horn of Africa for two years now but hearing families talk about the impact of this food crisis happening today has been particularly difficult. Samira’s story is sadly not unique. She is just one of more than 22 million people who are now facing severe hunger in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. And it is the most vulnerable people - refugees and displaced families like Samira’s - who are among those suffering the most.
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