Horn of Africa famine appeal

Children like Kuranga Akai receive the same amount of food as adults.
Children like five year old Kuranga Akai receive the same amount of food as adults. The food is supplied by the world food programme but distributed by Oxfam. Per day this equates to 345g of maize per person – or a handful.

If you cup your hands together, could you hold all the food you'll eat today?

I hope not. I hope your breakfast alone would overflow from your fingers. As you can see in the photo on the right, however, five-year-old Kuranga Akai can hold his entire day’s food in his little hands without spilling a bean.

This is because Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. It wiped out the harvest and food prices have skyrocketed, triggering famine across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.

It's the worst food crisis of the 21st Century and our worst fears have been realised, with the crisis being officially declared a famine by the UN.

More than 13 million people are in a fight for their survival.

Images of malnourished children and parched African landscapes are reminding aid workers of the great Ethiopian famine of 1984. In 1984, the world left it too late and tragically a million people died. Today we have a chance to stop this happening again. After all, no child should be able to hold a day's food in their tiny palms.

Your donation

Your donation will also help us bring long term change by tackling the poverty that causes hunger. You have probably heard that women and girls are more likely to go hungry at times like this. And the irony is that women are also the best chance to change the system.

By supporting small farmers – especially women – to grow more food, the deadly effect of droughts can be prevented. When we provide training in water conservation, green manures and irrigation, use of drought resistant seeds, and help to access markets, we give families the simple tools that not only improve small farms, but can save the lives of the people they feed.

We are also working hard to hold governments to account, so they follow through on promises to help farmers deal with the impacts of climate change.

The system is broken. But together we can fix it. Find out how your donation will also address the root causes of the famine through our GROW campaign.

Read more about what Oxfam is doing in the Horn of Africa.

Oxfam in Turkana, Kenya

Tede Lokapelo, 85, holds a day's worth of food
Tede Lokapelo, 85, holds a day's worth of food in the palm of his hands: 345g of maize per person – a handful.

Without water nothing can grow. If nothing grows there is no food.

Turkana is the largest and poorest district in Kenya. It covers 77,000 km˛ and is home to almost 1 million people. Ninety-five per cent of whom are living in extreme poverty (according to UNICEF) and do not have enough to eat. One in five people are malnourished.

What is Oxfam doing — Food Aid

Oxfam is distributing food aid to 200,000 people in Northern Kenyan to keep them alive during the prolonged drought. Every month Oxfam distributes the following food per person:

Children like Kuranga Akai, pictured above, receive the same amount of food as adults. The food is supplied by the world food programme but distributed by Oxfam. Per day this equates to 345g of maize per person per day – or a handful.

The situation in Turkana

In Turkana, northern Kenya, nothing has grown for seven years. The rains used to come twice a year, but these days light drizzly showers, lasting minutes rather than days, have come to replace what was called the rainy season. This relentless drought has left its mark on the land and its people. What once was vast pasture, home to herds of goats, cattle, donkeys and camels - in their hundreds, has been reduced to little more than dust.

Following the failure of the April 2011 rains, the entire region continues to suffer from the cumulative effect of drought after drought. The situation is already very worrying and it is deteriorating every day. It could result in a major humanitarian emergency over the coming months. There are currently serious shortages of water and pasture; the price of food and water is rising to unaffordable levels; and weak, dying animals and the collapse of livestock markets have reduced people’s income and ability to cope.

Read more