Recent Floods, Food Crisis and Climate Change

With recent tragic floods affecting Nairobi and much of East Africa, there is fear of increased food insecurity, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks.

We have been experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding in some areas. This significantly impacts on food production because of the damage to crops, livestock and livelihoods. This comes after a severe drought that affected the country in the last four years that has forced many people into poverty and they are yet to recover.

Weather forecasts indicate that there will be more rainfall in the coming weeks putting more families in danger and also significantly impacting food production negatively. This will in return lead to high food costs or lack thereof for slum communities and those in arid and semi-arid areas.

Social unrest and protests calling for a reduction in food costs and energy have been experienced before and they might happen again should the current situation continue. High taxation and reduced spending power for people who already have an income problem is making life more difficult. Poor households are and will not be able to access sufficient foods because of low incomes forcing them to look for coping mechanisms such as skipping meals or buying low-quality foods that will have an effect on their health and that of their children.

This may lead to more families in slums and other affected areas falling below the poverty line hence more poverty for these already vulnerable groups.

Weekend Feeding Program

The weekend feeding program that runs every Saturday has continued since our last update. The number of children coming through for the weekend feeding has remained high. We serve between 1500 - 1650 every Saturday.

From July 23 to the time we closed school on the 26th October, 32,342 children were served during this period. The support we have received for the Saturday feeding has helped us feed the many children we feed every Saturday and we are more than grateful for the continued support. The guarantee of a meal over the weekend for most of our children in the Kibagare slum and the other slums within Kangemi helps in reducing cases of children going without a meal or look for alternative ways to fend for themselves due to the inability of some their parents to provide a meal over the weekend.

At St Martin's school, we have continued to provide breakfast and lunch for the 800 children that attend school here.

The long rains from April - June and the recent flooding mean there could be a significant impact on food availability and price increases are expected putting further pressure on the school and community to endure this worsening hardship. Many people have tragically lost their lives in the recent floods and thousands of people are now homeless as a result.