23 Jul 2009 |
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External Source: Daily Nation
About 15,000 people in the larger West Pokot district are in dire need of relief food assistance, Kitale ACK Bishop Stephen Kewasis has said.
Bishop Kewasis said that the three constituencies in the districts that include Sigor, Kapenguria and Kacheliba had greatly been affected by hunger, adding that some of the victims had been forced to walk for long distances to search for food.
Speaking at his Kitale office, Bishop Kewasis disclosed that about 27,000 cattle that belong to the Pokot community might also perish if the government did not move in and assist them in getting water.
Reports say that the water ponds in Uganda where they have been getting the commodity for their animals have also dried up.
The herders from the Pokot community occasionally visit areas like Moroto in Uganda, which lies about 150 kilometres from Kapenguria town to search for water for their animals.
Bishop Kewasis said that majority of the herders who had moved to Uganda to search for water to provide for their animals had resorted to come back home after a similar dry spell hit the area.
“The only grazing point, Nakapirpir area in Uganda that had green grass has also dried up,” Bishop Kewasis said, adding that the community was now living under the mercy of God.
The clergy further said that most of the areas in West Pokot has not experienced any rain for a period of 4 months now.
He said that a group of 70 mothers with their families had visited his Kapenguria home on Sunday begging for food.
Some, he said, had walked for more than 30 kilometres from their respective homes. The mothers had been accompanied by their children aged between 1 and 7 years.
Bishop Kewasis appealed to well wishers and the government to move in assist the victims saying that the situation was getting out of hand.
He said that the church was also trying to solicit for relief assistance to assist the affected victims. Another clergy Rev John Lodinyo of Kiwawa area told journalists that about 1,500 school-going children from Kacheliba area had dropped out of school following the hunger situation that has hit the area.
Bishop Lodinyo said that most of the children had either accompanied their parents to the grazing field to look for food while others had no choice because they have to move to the new manyattas (homes).
He said that the relief food that was being provided by the government was only being distributed to boarding schools but was quick to add that the ratio was not enough.
“The ratio that was being distributed is not enough to assist the affected victims,” Bishop Lodinyo said.
He too appealed to the government to review the hunger situation in West Pokot district saying that the community was in need of food assistance.
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