Hunger initiative nets Sh3.3m for North Rift residents

By VINCENT BARTOO

Eldoret County

The Kenyans for Kenya initiative received a boost of Sh3.3 million at a fundraisingin Eldoret.

The donation included cash, food and pledges made during a drought response initiative meeting at Sirikwa Hotel in efforts targeting three million starving residents of the North Rift.

The meeting, organised by the Kenya Red Cross North Rift office, further discussed ways of alleviating the suffering of locals living in arid areas of the region.

The Kenya Red Cross Governor Paul Birech said the suffering is mainly experienced in Turkana and Pokot counties.

"These are areas with the highest rates of malnutrition and the elderly are at risk of starvation," he said.

The Red Cross Regional Manager Moses Atuko said the relief aid would be dispatched to Lokichar division in Turkana on Monday.

"What we get will be dispatched immediately as we continue receiving what Kenyans in this region will be donating," he said adding that the Red Cross was also planning a door-to-door campaign to mop up donations at household level.

"We have received suggestions from Eldoret residents to go round the estates to collect both food and non-food items," he said.

Atuko said they had enlisted the help of volunteers to carry out the campaign.

"These efforts will culminate in a hunger walk at the end of this month to sweep up donations," he added.

Donors in attendance sought ways of holding Government to account as a way of ending the perennial cycle of fundraising to assist hunger stricken Kenyans.

They made plans to form a caucus that will pressure Government to eradicate the hunger crisis facing Kenya almost annually. Others suggested traditional ways of preserving food that can assist pastoralists in drought prone areas.