-
Crisis Relief
Photo credits: Kenya Famine by Zoriah
From time to time we launch appeals to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering a crisis. Whether it's famine, flood, drought or persecution, we want to support churches and individuals in practical ways.
Currently there are needs in the places listed below…
How you can give
Give by cheque
If you are able to help, you can give through your local church or by sending a cheque made payable to Newfrontiers to the address below.Newfrontiers Finance Team
The Matrix Complex
91 Peterborough Rd
London SW6 3BU
Mark all gifts
Please mark all gifts ‘Crisis Fund’, unless you have a preference for where your gift should be directed, in which case please state the country.
Give online
In order to serve you better, we have also enabled an online giving facility for individuals to use. Please follow the links below to direct your gift.
Funds you can give toGeneral Crisis
This is a general fund to enable us to quickly meet needs around the world as they arise.Give online to the General Crisis Fund.
Kenya
Edward Buria is once again facing crisis among his churches due to severe drought in Kenya. Extracts from text messages and phone calls in the early months of 2010 revealed the following:
1.6million Kenyans were receiving food aid to compensate for the drought, but the government expected that could rise to five million by March. Samburu is particularly badly affected.
Two members of a Newfrontiers church in Samburu died of starvation.
It was estimated that 27m livestock were at risk, and food prices had risen by up to 50%
Edward met with senior leaders from many churches, and together they have planned to work towards sustainable solutions, as well as meeting the immediate crisis needs.
December 2011 Update
Allow me to once again most sincerely thank all our dear friends from Kenya, and from the International Community who have stood with us this year. Your support has been expressed through much love and amazing generosity. Thank you so much! Together we have made so many people to survive the worst of all droughts ever witnessed and experienced in this country in over 60 years. Through the initiative and vehicle that God has been using for many years now, dubbed Together Against Famine (TAF) so many lives have been saved from death and much hope reborn among the affected.Since my last report on the crisis that our country has been battling with since the beginning of the year, causing rivers and vegetation to dry up, and which has claimed a number of human lives and those of thousands of animals, things have changed a lot, giving us a reason to celebrate especially with the arrival of the much awaited rain. In some parts of the country, we have had excessive rain that has swept away the lives of people and brought much destruction especially to infrastructure and road network. In the last month I have had the chance of traversing many parts where we are still assisting (and we will maintain the relief supplies until March/April 2012 when we are expecting a harvest from the crops that are being planted at the moment) and I have noticed most of these places have received a significant amount of rainfall.
We have been so encouraged by the testimonies and good news stories from the beneficiaries that our media team has been able to capture each time they have been in all the places we are targeting in the past 10 months. It is not possible to write down all the hundreds of wonderful stories from people who have sincerely shared how our efforts have saved their lives and given them hope when hope was not in their horizons.
The next few months (until April 2012) remain critical in both making sure all the good work achieved in the last 10 months does not waste away, and in making sure those that we have been assisting stand on their own and move on with their lives. This being the case, our plan of action is as follows:
Continued relief supplies in small quantities
We plan to continue supplying relief supplies in small reduced quantities to the most venerable (i.e. children, sick, elderly and pregnant mothers) in the following places Samburu, Turkana, Tharaka and Mbeere and very few cases in other places where we have been targeting. Relief supplies include the following:- Unimix, (this is a very rich and concentrated with minerals and vitamins children meal which has amazing nutritious benefits to children, sick and elderly) Maize, Beans, in small quantities Sugar and Cooking fat.
Increased sustainable projects and programmes
Our plan is to increase our efforts on sustainable programmes for a more permanent solution. The pastoralist communities depend on livestock as a way of livelihood and during the crisis most of these animals succumbed. We therefore plan to issue them with a few cows, goats, sheep and camels.
Alongside this we plan to give capital for small business start-ups to those that lost their businesses during the crisis to start all over again.
By the end of April 2012, we hope to have completed 2 more sand dams in Samburu and Mbeere to provide water for domestic use and animals.
Training & skills impartation programmes:
- We will be training local committees in the management and how to sustain sand dams, pan dams and boreholes
- Training on basic business management skills, fish farming and animal keeping management etc
To this point, a very generous £230,000 has been raised through Newfrontiers churches. Thank you for your support! However, a further £160,000 is needed to fulfil the programme.
Give online to the Kenya Crisis Relief Fund
About the author
Ross is a Director for Newfrontiers and supports David Stroud in his oversight of the UK Churches. He has particular oversight of finance, many of our publications and the administration and organization of the Newday youth event. Previously he worked as a Chartered Accountant for Deloitte for 28 years, during which time he spent 18 years as a partner. He is an elder at ChristChurch London, where he and his wife Joy oversee many aspects of church life including children’s ministry, youth ministry, overseas mission and the marriage preparation course. Ross also oversees the church’s finance and governance.
Comments
Commenting is disabled in this entry