ADRA Kenya launches three-month project to assist 24,000 people

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) continues working with its partners to expand its emergency response for those displaced or affected by the ongoing post-election violence in Nairobi and Kenya’s western provinces. With a three-month project launching mid-February, ADRA Kenya will further expand its assistance to 24,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), providing essential supplies and services. The project complements ADRA Kenya’s other expanded responses to distribute additional shipments of pharmaceuticals, provide medical care in affected communities, and construct water and sanitation facilities for dozens of orphanages.

In coordination with it partners, ADRA Kenya is set to launch a three-month intervention in the Rift Valley to assist more than 24,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltering in temporary camps in Navaisha, Kipkelion, and Nakuru. ADRA Kenya will distribute non-food items such as kitchen sets, blankets, mosquito nets, clothing, and soap; help approximately 1,000 IDPs return home; and provide an estimated 2,000 IDPs with medical treatment. The project is scheduled to begin February 20 and will continue through April 20, 2008.

Additionally, at the request of ADRA Kenya, ADRA International has shipped containers of donated clothing and medical supplies valued at more than US$15 million [EUR 10,25 million]. This week ADRA International is airlifting donated pharmaceuticals—including 51,000 doses of de-worming medicine valued at nearly US$500,000 [EUR 340,800]—into Kenya for distribution at local clinics. A portion of the medical supplies and pharmaceuticals has been directed to Kendu Adventist Hospital, located in the Rift Valley near Lake Victoria. Medical teams mobilized by ADRA are providing treatment in dozens of affected communities, including Naivasha and Nakuru in the Rift Valley, and are working with the Ministry of Health to treat displaced persons sheltering at the Moi Stadium in Kisumu in Nyanza province.

Since the violence began in late December, many orphanages have received an influx of newly orphaned children. In Nyanza, ADRA Kenya has partnered with the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN Habitat) to construct much-needed water and sanitation facilities for 30 orphanages in the Kisii and Homa Bay districts.

Meanwhile, in Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces ADRA continues to distribute items such as clothing, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, blankets, and hygiene supplies, including approximately 10 bales of clothing for an estimated 1,000 displaced persons in Eldoret. In Naivasha, where hundreds of people have sought shelter in police stations, ADRA is working with its partners to provide the displaced persons with psychosocial counseling as well as food and non-food items.

ADRA Kenya’s expanded emergency responses are coordinated by ADRA International and funded in partnership with the ADRA supporting offices in Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Violence erupted December 30, 2007, after the announcement of President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election. The disputed election results triggered a deadly conflict between Kibaki supporters and those of opposition leader Raila Odinga, and others.

ADRA initiated an immediate, coordinated response in Nairobi, partnering with the Ministry of Health, Kenya Red Cross, National Alliance of Churches Humanitarian committee, the local Seventh-day Adventist community, and other organizations to provide emergency food assistance, clothing, and other non-food items for persons displaced or affected by the violence. Over the last month, ADRA Kenya and its partners have distributed a total of more than 320 metric tons of donated food and other supplies to approximately 81,000 displaced and affected people.

According to the Kenya Red Cross, more than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 300,000 people have been displaced since the violence began. Thousands are being sheltered in IDP camps, while others who live in the poorer areas of their cities have little or no access to food or services.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity. Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.