Had it not been for World Vision's support, I would have lost my children to food shortage

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Borcicha District, some 305km south of Addis Ababa, is located in South Nations Nationalities and People Regional State of Sidama zone. The 2016 long rainy season was not good to Boricha District Farmers. The rainfall quitted in amidst of the season leaving all the field crops withered before it beard fruit of any kind. This unexpected rainfall failure left more than 66,000 people to severe food shortages.

Samuel Yosef, 42, married and with eight children was one of the family affected by the drought. Recalling the then situation, he says, “At the very beginning, the rain was good and the crops were growing well, but later the rain unexpectedly stopped. We thought that it would come again, but nothing was happening. With all our eyes on our farms, the crops withered and dried leaving us to severe food crisis.”

There was no stone that Samuel did not turn to save his children life. He says, “I used to have one milk cow which was estimated to be US$305 (7,000 Birr) at a normal time. The cow got skinner due to lack of feeder. I sold it almost four times less than the normal price and bought some food for my family.”

The food from the sale of the milk cow did not last more than a month. Samuel visited a local money lender and took loan with 50 percent interest. Gradually, the shortage of food aggravated so much at the home of Samuel. He says, “Providing a meal a day became a challenge for me. Two of my children body swelled due to lack of food. My children were going to school without eating breakfast and they used to faint at school. Lastly, they refused to go to school.”

While he was in such drastic situation, World Vision in collaboration with Joint Emergency Operation Program (JEOP) intervened in the area and began supporting all the 66,000 people affected by the drought with food and food oil support.

Samuel and his family were one of the beneficiaries that received food and food oil support from the project. Two of his children who were malnourished due to lack of food received treatment for six months at the local health center and are now doing well. “I was desperate of the food crisis and hopeless of my two kids whose body were swelled due to lack of food. I used to dream of bad news about them and pray for God’s intervention. When I first heard of food support, I just laid on the ground, literally cried and thanked God for His intervention.”

Samuel and his family are doing well and his children back to school. This season is doing well and so does the crops he planted. He is dreaming of good time to come. He has joined the local saving group and started saving some money. He is planning to start some business borrowing some money from his saving. The local government has provided him with drought resistance and short season arriving crops like corn and potatoes.

Samuel is very grateful to JEOP project for saving his family. He says, “Believe me, the project has saved my family life. Had it not been for World Vision Support, I would have lost my children to food shortage. God bless World Vision and JEOP for saving my family. Had I met the very people supporting this project in person, I would have gave them the best gift I had ever had.”