First consignment of food headed to Turkana

The first consignment of food purchased under the Kenyans for Kenya initiative was sent to Turkana Sunday morning to feed at least 21,000 people heavily affected by the worst food crisis in the region.

Four truckloads of 150 metric tonnes of Unimix food was flagged off in Nairobi and will be mainly used to feed those severely malnourished as a result of the drought and school going children over the next six months.

Unimix is an enriched maize and bean flour designed and used to fight malnutrition. It contains maize flour, soybeans, oil, milk powder, and sugar; plus vitamins and minerals.

Humanitarian organizations usually use it in large quantities to feed starving people in order to fight severe malnutrition, especially in children, who need substantial protein to grow.

“Unimix has been used due to the shortage of maize in the country…it is highly enriched and will assist the children without food stay in school for them to catch up for lost time occasioned by the drought,” Red Cross secretary general Abass Gulet said on Sunday.

So far, Kenyans have under the initiative raised at least Sh61 million through M-Pesa donations but it is likely to significantly rise by Friday this week when corporate organisations make their contributions.

This is an initiative of the Media Owners, Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank who have set out to raise half a billion shillings to buy and distribute food to starving Kenyans.

In Kenya, a total of 2.4 million people are currently receiving food assistance with World Food Programme feeding at least 1.6 million and the government 800,000.

The government estimates that it will require more than Sh10.5 billion for relief interventions.

Treasury has provided only Sh8 billion, leaving a gap of Sh2.5 billion.

Yesterday, Kenyans were still being rallied to send more donations in order to help those being affected by the hunger.

“Together, we can make a difference…we would like all Kenyans to participate and send the little they have…your contribution or lack of it means the life or death of an individual,” said Ms Rachael Gathoni, KCB foundation Manager.

Mr Joshua Chepkwony of the Media Owners Association also made similar remarks.

“For the first time, we have shown the World that we can do it (feed the hungry ourselves).

But those who have not done it ask yourself why you have not…ask yourself what you can do for your country.”

He went on; “You can sacrifice that cup of tea and donate the money to feed a dying Kenyan somewhere…this is a serious matter.

It is neither a question of ones ego nor politics. We must rise up and so something for our fellow Kenyans.”

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said expressed optimism that owing to the huge response they had received from Kenyans, they would meet and surpass their Sh500 million target.

‘I am sure we can exceed our target. We still have four weeks and I am sure we will burst the Sh1 billion mark even though we still have a long way to go,” he said.

He went on; “We have seen what Kenyans can do. So I am appealing to corporate organisations to come forth and play their part. I will also be asking CEO’s to dig into their own pockets and support this initiative.”

The government has called an international conference on the famine ravaging the Horn of Africa region.

The military and the National Youth Service have also been called in to help in the distribution of relief food to more than 80 per cent of the country-experiencing drought.

They were among the drastic steps that the Cabinet agreed on to tackle the worst food crisis in decades to hit Kenya and neighbouring states of Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.