Famine hit communities in Mwingi are languishing, says Nairobi cleric

A Cleric with Baptist Chapel in Nairobi, Rev. Dr. Euticauls Wambua, on Tuesday decried the suffering and helplessness of residents in the famine hit areas of Mwingi North in Kitui County.

Rev. Dr Euticauls Wambua doling out food aid to residents at his home on Tuesday./MWINGI TIMES CORRESPONDENT 

“People are in great need and especially in this area. There is food shortage and also water is an issue as we have not had enough rain. It is a big challenge that needs to be addressed by the government,” said Rev. Wambua.

He said that the significance of the government support in terms of provision of relief food to the locals could not be gainsaid. He said many people were needy as they were not working neither did they have any income.

“So I would urge the government to consider supporting these families by giving them food so that they could have something to eat,” he said. He further lamented that families and communities were starving for lack of food.

Rev. Wambua spoke at his rural home in Mbauni Village in Kamuwongo area of Mwingi North Sub County of Kitui on the second day of his drive to give relief food to residents within the length and breadth of the Sub County.  

He gave relief food rations to at least 1500 people. He said that on Monday he distributed food aid to 1300 residents said in Usueni area and two other areas in Tseikuru Ward in Mwingi North. 

He had targeted to give food aid to between 2500 and 3000 people this Christmas season.

“I am here because it is Christmas time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is the day God gave his love to us by giving his own son to come down to earth,” said Wambua.

Rev. Wambua said he had decided to celebrate Xmas by distributing food support to people of Mwingi North specifically targeting the elderly. 

He however said unexpectedly multitudes of uninvited but hunger stricken residents showed up when they got wind of his plans to dole out relief food.

The clergyman said even in such a situation no one went back home empty handed. He said although the beneficiaries were expected to be around 400 the number climbed up more than three folds.

He said that during his mission to give relief food in Mwingi, he established that many people were facing pangs of hunger going by the sheer number of uninvited people who showed up seeking for rations.

“When you invite people to come for food, the number triples and sometimes goes beyond what you had expected,” he said.

He said he was thus left with a big challenge as it was unfair to turn away hungry but uninvited people who had shown up. “One is left with no option but to reduce the potion of food to ensure everyone gets something,” he said.

Rev. Wambua challenged the Government to be strategic enough to invest is sinking boreholes in areas currently facing famine to enable residents produce their own food.

The cleric said in his philanthropic missions to distribute relief food aid he had established that the affected areas had a big potential to grow enough food.

He said that he was speaking from experience and point of knowledge having visited drought ravaged Turkana, Masai land, Nairobi and Kitui County among other counties to distribute food aid.

“I would like to urge the government to consider sinking boreholes for these communities,” said the cleric.

He said President William Ruto's promised fertilizer should also be provided to enable those communities to grow food through irrigation farming. 

STORY By MWINGI TIMES CORRESPONDENT