We are raising funds for the Spiritan missions where Drought and Price increases have caused increased hardship on the poor. For many, their only animal a goat or a cow has died as they have no water. 

Because the poor have no way of buying goods in the big supermarkets (as they have no means of transport and are usually a big distance away) they have to buy in the local shamba (farm shops) where the prices are a multiple of the bigger shops.

We have received requests for help from many missions so please help if you can, we would really appreciate it.

Aidan Corless

The Mission Fund

Donate by clicking on the following link https://www.rockunion.ie/supportus and chosing the Mission Fund Donate button

The following is a letter recieved from the Spiritans Development Office Kenya, Sep 20 this year

Dear Aidan,

Greetings from Spiritans Development Office Kenya and we trust that you are well.

Following the email sent by Fr. Wambu in regard to the drought situation in Kenya, we wish to let you know that the situation has affected most parts of our missions i.e. East Pokot, Makueni, Kwale, Garsen and Garissa respectively. The drought continued to worsen in almost all the ASAL counties with some counties sliding into the alarm phase of the drought. The worsening household food security situation has resulted in acute malnutrition rates across the counties with 942,000 children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.

The Government together with development partners under the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) in collaboration with the respective County Steering Groups (CSGs) carried out the seasonal Long Rains Food and Nutritional Security Assessment in July 2022 across the ASALs. Out of the 23 ASAL counties analyzed, 15 counties were classified in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3. The number of people in IPC Phase 4 (emergency) was 785,000 (5 percent) and 2.8 million (18 percent) in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Nine (9) counties, predominantly pastoral livelihoods, have 40 percent of their population in IPC 3 or worse.

It is projected that the food situation is likely to worsen between October to December 2022 and 4.4 million people will require assistance. Overall, 3.1 million will likely be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and 1.2 million in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). 

We also at the beginning of this month experienced floods in Marigat - Baringo County which was caused by freak weather and hours of torrential rains, furious winds and hail storms caused flooding and mass destruction. Crops were destroyed, trees and electricity polls downed, roofs were blown off houses and the area turned into an ocean. Residents during an interview said that heavy rains were experienced in 1961 and 1997 but they lasted over a period of time and were not of such magnitude. The difference is that El Nino rains took days and weeks in smaller quantities but this particular one fell just once and caused shocking destruction. In a nutshell, this is the food security situation in our country at the moment. 

Our office will greatly appreciate your support to assist in the provision of both food and non-food items for the less fortunate communities that we serve in order to improve their dignity through preventing starvation as well as reconstruction of their livelihoods. We believe that by doing so, we shall make the gospel message more relevant to them.

Hoping to hearing from you soon, I remain

Yours sincerely, 

Ruth Hamisi

Programs Coordinator

Spiritans Development Office Kenya (SDOK)

Holy Ghost Fathers - Province of Kenya & South Sudan