Thinking of tomorrow in Kenya
Tourism is big in Kenya. On the Internet for instance, one travel and tourism orientated website after another tries to lure tourists and travelers to Kenya for an all-inclusive and very exclusive safari holiday. Accompanied by beautiful photographs, internet users are told about Kenya’s exquisite natural beauty, the incredible cultures, the wide variety of African wildlife and of course the, compared to many parts of Europe and the US, favourable weather. “In Kenya the sun shines almost the entire year!”
Let thát – the dry, hot climate - be the problem to millions of Kenyans. At moment of writing 3,5 million Kenyans are on the verge of starvation. Especially the Northern part of the country hasn’t had proper rainfall in years. The result of the drought, a problem which started five years ago, is a destructive famine that slowly but surely is setting its claws into the region.
Skin over bone
Food and water are scarce or even non-existent. In the North of Kenya, millions of people haven’t eaten a proper meal in many days or even weeks. Children are skin over bone, lying in apathy in the arms of their hungry and desperate mothers. Some Kenyans have turned to eating soil, bark and grass. To have something in their stomachs, to kill the overpowering feeling of pain and discomfort caused by hunger.
According to the organization World Food Program of the United Nations, immediate action is needed to save the millions of desperate and hungry Kenyans from a similar death as the million Ethiopians who perished of hunger in the 1980’s.
Worst humanitarian crises
So far, response from the International Community to Africa’s worst humanitarian crises in decades has been poor. In contrary to the 1984, when Ethiopia was struck by a destructive, the images of crying and dying Kenyan children haven’t triggered international action as is needed at present. Or in contrary to when Hurricane Katrina struck America last year.
Meanwhile tourists from all corners of the earth are enjoying a well-deserved African wildlife safari holiday in one of the lavish and luxurious Kenyan game lodges. Here they – after having escaped the stress of their daily lives - fill their days with copious dinners, and exquisite and comfortable game drives. Here they conclude and exhausting day in an air-conditioned 4x4 vehicle with a dip in the Jacuzzi and a sip of wine while observing the African wildlife passing by in the far distance. They watch the sunset and wonder about what tomorrow will bring. UN aware of what is happening elsewhere in the country.
A few hundreds of kilometers away from the lavish holiday resorts, millions of starving Kenyans are eyewitness of the same sunset too. They also wonder about the next day, but not in the context of whether or not they will see a leopard.
Miriam Mannak / Africa in the News - Cape Town, South Africa
Let thát – the dry, hot climate - be the problem to millions of Kenyans. At moment of writing 3,5 million Kenyans are on the verge of starvation. Especially the Northern part of the country hasn’t had proper rainfall in years. The result of the drought, a problem which started five years ago, is a destructive famine that slowly but surely is setting its claws into the region.
Skin over bone
Food and water are scarce or even non-existent. In the North of Kenya, millions of people haven’t eaten a proper meal in many days or even weeks. Children are skin over bone, lying in apathy in the arms of their hungry and desperate mothers. Some Kenyans have turned to eating soil, bark and grass. To have something in their stomachs, to kill the overpowering feeling of pain and discomfort caused by hunger.
According to the organization World Food Program of the United Nations, immediate action is needed to save the millions of desperate and hungry Kenyans from a similar death as the million Ethiopians who perished of hunger in the 1980’s.
Worst humanitarian crises
So far, response from the International Community to Africa’s worst humanitarian crises in decades has been poor. In contrary to the 1984, when Ethiopia was struck by a destructive, the images of crying and dying Kenyan children haven’t triggered international action as is needed at present. Or in contrary to when Hurricane Katrina struck America last year.
Meanwhile tourists from all corners of the earth are enjoying a well-deserved African wildlife safari holiday in one of the lavish and luxurious Kenyan game lodges. Here they – after having escaped the stress of their daily lives - fill their days with copious dinners, and exquisite and comfortable game drives. Here they conclude and exhausting day in an air-conditioned 4x4 vehicle with a dip in the Jacuzzi and a sip of wine while observing the African wildlife passing by in the far distance. They watch the sunset and wonder about what tomorrow will bring. UN aware of what is happening elsewhere in the country.
A few hundreds of kilometers away from the lavish holiday resorts, millions of starving Kenyans are eyewitness of the same sunset too. They also wonder about the next day, but not in the context of whether or not they will see a leopard.
Miriam Mannak / Africa in the News - Cape Town, South Africa
posted by Miriam Mannak at
09:37
5 Comments:
Dear Miriam,
It is truly a shame that we in the Western countries have too much, and others have nothing, for example;every day we throw away a mass of food [ and also for "keeping the prizes for our farmers high"!], and that we waste a lot. Too much children in the Western countries eat far too much and are too fat, and ironic enough, they must go on diet...
I'm ashame of it, deeply ashamed, that even on our television nothing is heard the last weeks about the catastrophy happening these days in Kenia, that some stupid things, like the Eurovision songcountest seems to be more important, than the dreadful situation those poor people in Kenia are on this moment.
Very good my dear, that you give the people something to think with your articles you write, keep going on!!
Love, Marijke and Gep
Your mother and father from the NL's
Paid a fleeting visit to your blog and found it interesting.Hope to pop in on a regular basis in order to learn from your knowledge and experience.
What do you think about the issues your parents raised above?
Like they say is true: Parents are right. Well, not all the time but most of the time :-)
It is very much true that in Holland for instance farmers destroy produce to keep the prices high. They rather destroy their produce instead of getting a low price. It is ridiculous; I don't have anything else to say.
And there is so much more wrong when it comes to throwing away food. You, as a restaurant, can't even give you left over food to homeless institutions or even to a farmer to give to his animals!
As a student I worked for an events company, and one day we had a big corporate event for a big Dutch bank. Of course with loads of food. I was heart breaking to, after wards, having to throw so much away. Even loafs of breads that were practically untouched, kilo's of strawberries, cheese, cold meets, fruits, milk and so on. I refused, and was told to go home since I didn’t want to do what I was asked to do.
I do, to comment on my mother's last comment, that the west is very self-centered these days. Or should I say: The west has become more and more self-centered over the years. The tragedy in Kenya and the rest of the Horn of Africa is not the first forgotten and / or ignored African crisis of massive proportions. The conflict in the DRC, the violence in Burundi, the situation in Zimbabwe, the poverty and drought in Malawi are just a few examples. Or the genocide in Rwanda, as a matter of fact. This crisis was completely swept aside, before the atrocities started as well as when the country was drenched in blood, gore and hate.
I wrote my thesis/ dissertation about the genocide in Rwanda and failure of the United Nations. Over the next weeks, I will translate the document and put it online (as I wrote my thesis / dissertation in Dutch).
Looking forward to the translated version of your thesis ont he genocide in Rwanda and how the UN failed the peolpe there.
Thanks! yes, will be working on it over the next weeks but since it is a document of over 100 pages it will take some time. :-) Until than, just have a look on my blog once in a while for more of my impressions on SA. You might not like all of them - everyone is entitled their own opinion. In any case, thanks for reading my blog!
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