The Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Kenya "ADRA-Kenya" has once again been selected to be the Relief Lead Agency in the Kitui district during the current joint efforts by the Government of Kenya and international donors represented by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to respond to the threat on human life posed by the ongoing drought. WFP will sign an agreement with ADRA-Kenya anytime this week. ADRA will collaborate with three other local NGOs who will be implementing Partners taking charge of specific zones in the district. The first time ADRA undertook such a responsibility was during the 2000 to 2002 emergency operations in the same district.

During the next five months (September 2004 to January 2005) ADRA is expected to distribute a total of 11,000 metric tonnes of relief food (Maize, beans, vegetable oil, corn soy blend) donated through the World Food Programme and the Government of Kenya. This food will reach about 161,000 inhabitants of the district who are facing acute food shortages.

According to the World Food Programme, only 45% of required food resources have been committed.

Through the USAID-funded DAP Title II Kitui food security project, ADRA is also mitigating the effects of drought in the southern part of the district. So far 23 shallow boreholes out of 40 have been drilled and will soon be fitted with pumps to reduce distances to water sources and also improve on water sanitation.

Preparations for the coming planting season are at an advanced stage. Extension farmers and seed multipliers have been trained on various agronomic practices so as to help farmers prepare adequately. In the meantime, 9.5 metric tonnes of assorted drought-tolerant crop seed has been purchased for demonstration purposes with extension farmers as well as for multiplication by seed multipliers. This will boost both food and seed availability in the coming seasons. Extension farmers have been issued with 145 pairs of levelling boards for laying of soil conservation structures on farms.

In addition ADRA-Kenya will carry on with the distribution of its supplementary food rations to orphans, children under five years of age, the aged and people living with HIV/AIDS within its DAP title II Kitui South Food Security Project area. So far 57 metric tones of supplementary food (CSB and Vegetable oil) worth US $ 34,150 has been distributed to over 18,000 beneficiaries. By January 2005, a total of 1500 metric tonnes valued at US$ 905,890 will have been distributed within Kitui south.

In a bid to make the operations efficient, ADRA is also in the process of acquiring 4 trucks that will be used alongside contracted trucks in moving food to beneficiaries.

"We hope to reach out and safeguard the lives of those threatened by drought through God’s grace and thereby change the world one life at a time," told Albert Mlamba, ADRA-Kenya Emergency Project Officer to the Adventist Press Service (APD) .

ADRA-International, an independent humanitarian agency established in 1984, is present in more than 120 countries providing individual and community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age or ethnicity. The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) granted ADRA general consultative status in 1997.