Kenya Red Cross Society has joined several other donors to flag off 40 trucks of relief food to go to seven drought-stricken counties.

The humanitarian organisation will be incharge of distributing the relief food in seven counties, including Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, Garissa, Kwale, Kilifi, Samburu, and Marsabit.

“The food, valued at Sh40 million consist of essential foodstuffs including sugar, maize flour, salt, cooking oil, packed in a hamper of 13 kgs each,” said Dr Razik Kantaria, Famine Relief Ambassador.

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“The relief food was raised over the last two weeks after the Kenya Red Cross reached out to us as Sunrise Walkers Club and we mobilised other donors,” he added.

Dr Rizak spoke after flagging off the food donation at Parklands Sports Club in Nairobi.

Other donors included Prime Bank, Parklands Sports Club, which presented a cheque of Sh100,000, Rotary District 19212, Tausi Insurance Company Ltd, Kantaria Investments Ltd, Nelion Insurance Brokers, Kapa Oil Refineries Ltd, Shree Jalaram Satsang Mandal, Vanguard Group of Companies, Elgon Kenya, Kantaria Charitable Trust, among others.  

Dr Kantraia, who delivered a keynote speech, urged Kenyans to continue to donate to the affected.

“Individual or one particular group of people cannot do much, but if all of us do our bit, we can achieve much,” he said.

Kenya Red Cross Society secretary general Dr Ahmed Idris, who lauded the organisation for the kind donation, said currently 3.3 million Kenyans are facing hunger in 23 counties and may increase to 3.6 million by the end of March.

“The effort this morning is part of our own commitment to us Kenyans and to support Kenyans to contribute to responding to this particular emergency, which is the drought that is affecting several countries,” said Dr Idris.

He added: “As you are aware, about 3.3 million Kenyans require food support in about 23 counties. For this particular support, we are focusing on the priority seven counties that are most affected.”

Dr Idris, who was at one time overwhelmed while describing the current dire situation in the north,  said the food will be able to reach several families for the next one month and the food hamper is designed to support a family for at least six weeks, which is a major contribution to the relief effort and assured donors that the food will reach to the intended people only.

He said as an organisation and as a country, they are currently worried about the number of children who are in a state of malnutrition.

“The most recent statistic shows that about 890,000 children are at risk of malnutrition or are facing malnutrition. We have to all put our effort together to reverse that negative trajectory so that it’s not more Kenyans who are going into malnutrition,” said Dr Idris.

He added: “This contribution and donation this morning is part of this, complementing what the government is doing and complementing what other organisations are doing on the ground in terms of responding to the emergency.”

The SG, who called upon affected counties’ leadership to ensure infrastructure development, to ensure smooth flow of humanitarian aid and climate resilient livelihoods, said the organisation is also at the same time dealing with flooding in some parts of the country, including Homa Bay County, which has been caused by current rains.

The humanitarian organisation said the overall needs in the country for the next two months in terms of food are about Sh6 million worth of food.

“The government of Kenya has allocated some resources to take us at least to the end of March. We are hoping that will help in reducing the number of people in need, but we’ll also continue to mobilise from the general public so that we can address the gaps that exist in addition to what the government is doing,” said Dr Idris.

Parklands Sports Club chairman Norman Asega said the club, apart from its core activities, also engages in other activities that uplift the society.

“The event that is happening today is a similar event that lies within our strategy as a club to help those who are less fortunate and also part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),” said Asega.

Geeta Manek, a member of the board of Trustees of the Rotary Foundation, challenged Kenyans to continue to donate to support those facing hunger.

“This is not the last time to contribute, sadly. Continue to share your blessings and successes with Kenyans who are in real need through your donations. Jon hands with more communities and agencies so that we can work together,” she said, calling for a long-term, sustainable solution.