We save the lives of malnourished children. We ensure everyone can access clean water, food,and healthcare. We enable entire communities to be free from hunger.
When a disaster strikes it has long-term effects on hunger, whether it destroys food production, creates barriers to food distribution or causes inflation.
The rainy season has ended in southern Ethiopia and the long period of thirst has begun. People in the remote villages of Borena region, and in particular, women make day-long journeys for water.
“I used to travel all the way to the top of the mountain and then all the way down to fetch water. I left at 6 AM and came back around 6 PM. I walked all this time just to fetch one jerrycan of water,” remembers Loko, a single mother of five children. “[And the] water was contaminated. The water was not enough for my children, not enough for our drinking, not enough for our daily living. We suffered a lot in the past."
All on her own, even months pregnant, she walked 12 hours daily carrying heavy containers of water that barely lasted through the day.