We are bracing ourselves for famine â€" Soroti resident
Oct 14, 2007
HE is the breadwinner, but there is no bread to win. Justine Ojimam’s wife and five children, aged two to 12 years, will go to bed without supper. The only thing in their tummies is a pumpkin they ate for lunch. <br>
By Simon Peter Esaku
HE is the breadwinner, but there is no bread to win. Justine Ojimam’s wife and five children, aged two to 12 years, will go to bed without supper. The only thing in their tummies is a pumpkin they ate for lunch.
The day before, 35-year-old Ojimam, his wife Jessica Abalo, 30 and children, survived on cassava a neighbour gave them.
Sitting in front of his grass-thatched hut in Onyarai village in Arapai sub-county, Soroti district, Ojimam’s mind travels back to a time when Abalo would prepare for the family atapa (millet bread) and emagira (cow peas).
“Now we do not have any food because the floods have destroyed four gardens of cassava, one of sweet potatoes and one of cow peas,†he says.
Started in July 2007, the floods are said to have affected 300,000 people in the Teso region, comprising Soroti, Kaberamaido, Amuria, Katakwi, Kumi and Bukedea districts.
“On the evening of September 7, it rained for hours and at night, water entered our house,†Ojimam says. Abalo, who had brought Ojimam Junior into this world by C-section on August 28, sat with the baby on a stool until morning. The family took refuge in a neighbour’s home for a week.
“All our cassava and sweet potatoes rotted in the garden,†Ojimam says. He pulls a cassava plant and pieces of the rotten, smelly tubers come up with the stem. He mangles one piece like clay.
“We are bracing ourselves for famine,†his wife says.
A situation report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) on October 2, says: “... in the most affected areas, 65% of families have lost 90% of their crops.â€
Ojimam cannot buy food for his family. “Before the floods, I used to burn charcoal. If I felled a big tree, I would get eight sacks which I would sell for sh72,000,†he says. “I need sh245,000 to start buying and selling sacks of unshelled groundnuts,†he adds.
The plight of Ojimam’s family and hundreds more in eastern Uganda, is the preoccupation of humanitarian agencies under the coordination of UN OCHA. The agencies are addressing such needs as shelter, water, sanitation and infrastructure.
Ojimam’s family received four blankets, two mosquito nets, two tarpaulins, one jerry can, one bar of washing soap, 40 water purification tablets and one box of biscuits from World Vision.
Ojimam’s family is one of 1,463 households with 9,723 people who have so far received the kits from World Vision — a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to overcoming poverty and injustice.
The beneficiaries live in Arapai, Tubur and Kamuda sub-counties in Soroti district and in Namanyonyi sub-county in Mbale district.
“World Vision will distribute food provided by World Food Programme to nearly 230,000 people in Teso and Mt. Elgon regions for six months, beginning October 15,†says Enzo Vecchio, the Humanitarian Emergency Affairs manager at World Vision, Uganda.
World Vision plans to provide seeds and implements to restore household food security.
However, it will be months before the seeds will be food on their plates. For now, the survival of Ojimam’s family and others depends on handouts from Good Samaritans.
HE is the breadwinner, but there is no bread to win. Justine Ojimam’s wife and five children, aged two to 12 years, will go to bed without supper. The only thing in their tummies is a pumpkin they ate for lunch.
The day before, 35-year-old Ojimam, his wife Jessica Abalo, 30 and children, survived on cassava a neighbour gave them.
Sitting in front of his grass-thatched hut in Onyarai village in Arapai sub-county, Soroti district, Ojimam’s mind travels back to a time when Abalo would prepare for the family atapa (millet bread) and emagira (cow peas).
“Now we do not have any food because the floods have destroyed four gardens of cassava, one of sweet potatoes and one of cow peas,†he says.
Started in July 2007, the floods are said to have affected 300,000 people in the Teso region, comprising Soroti, Kaberamaido, Amuria, Katakwi, Kumi and Bukedea districts.
“On the evening of September 7, it rained for hours and at night, water entered our house,†Ojimam says. Abalo, who had brought Ojimam Junior into this world by C-section on August 28, sat with the baby on a stool until morning. The family took refuge in a neighbour’s home for a week.
“All our cassava and sweet potatoes rotted in the garden,†Ojimam says. He pulls a cassava plant and pieces of the rotten, smelly tubers come up with the stem. He mangles one piece like clay.
“We are bracing ourselves for famine,†his wife says.
A situation report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) on October 2, says: “... in the most affected areas, 65% of families have lost 90% of their crops.â€
Ojimam cannot buy food for his family. “Before the floods, I used to burn charcoal. If I felled a big tree, I would get eight sacks which I would sell for sh72,000,†he says. “I need sh245,000 to start buying and selling sacks of unshelled groundnuts,†he adds.
The plight of Ojimam’s family and hundreds more in eastern Uganda, is the preoccupation of humanitarian agencies under the coordination of UN OCHA. The agencies are addressing such needs as shelter, water, sanitation and infrastructure.
Ojimam’s family received four blankets, two mosquito nets, two tarpaulins, one jerry can, one bar of washing soap, 40 water purification tablets and one box of biscuits from World Vision.
Ojimam’s family is one of 1,463 households with 9,723 people who have so far received the kits from World Vision — a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to overcoming poverty and injustice.
The beneficiaries live in Arapai, Tubur and Kamuda sub-counties in Soroti district and in Namanyonyi sub-county in Mbale district.
“World Vision will distribute food provided by World Food Programme to nearly 230,000 people in Teso and Mt. Elgon regions for six months, beginning October 15,†says Enzo Vecchio, the Humanitarian Emergency Affairs manager at World Vision, Uganda.
World Vision plans to provide seeds and implements to restore household food security.
However, it will be months before the seeds will be food on their plates. For now, the survival of Ojimam’s family and others depends on handouts from Good Samaritans.