RADIO STATIONS RAISE FOOD FOR 2 MILLION STARVING KENYANS

Five of Kenya’s leading radio stations raised 172 metric tons of food over the weekend, in the country’s first twenty-four hour food appeal.

“We are astounded by the results of the appeal. To achieve so much in twenty fours hours in this country is unheard of. Now, we can save hundreds of children and other vulnerable group,” said Abbas Gullet, Kenya Red Cross Secretary General.

The appeal followed the declaration of a national disaster by President Kibaki. The President acknowledged that 10 million Kenyans were at the risk of starvation. In the past week, three people have died from starvation with hundreds more at risk.

The stations from the Radio Africa Group, in a remarkable national appeal that ended Saturday morning, got hundreds of Kenyans from all over the country to buy bags of food for the hungry. The appeal is a part of a Media Owners Association initiative.

“We believe in Kenyans and they have proven yet again that even in the most difficult of circumstances, we are still a nation of great and compassionate people who will support each other,” said Martin Khafafa, deputy chairman of the Media Owners Association of Kenya and General Manager of the Radio Africa group.

The food, which includes maize meal, rice, beans and cooking oil, is now being packed into two-month bundles, which will be distributed to families across Kenya during this week.

The appeal brought together Kenya’s leading presenters including Caroline Mutoko, Maina Kageni, Kalekye Mumo, Aleem Manji, Joseph Ogidi and the whole Radio Africa presenter team. The stations that participated were KISS 100, Classic 105, East FM, Radio Jambo and Xfm.

The campaign was conducted in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross and Nakumatt. The Kenya Red Cross will distribute all the food collected.

FYI: Sukuma Kenya was able to contribute about 98,000/= with the support of Ladies in Action and the Klara Foundation. Click HERE to read more about this.

Ksh 97, 652/= for drought victims

There are a lot of amazing initiatives across the country to raise funds and deliver food and other necessities to the 10 million or so people facing starvation in Kenya. The Kenya Red Cross as always are at the forefront of logisitics. As always the Media play a critical role in raising awareness and keeping Kenyans on their toes reminding us just how fortunate a handful of us are in Kenya. And of course there are a handful of Kenyans who just get on with what needs to be done. I have never ever understood this about being a Kenyan. On the one hand, just about every Kenyan who can afford to shop at Nakumatt or any other supermarket will spare whatever they can for those less fortunate. That says so much about a people.

Yet, we have criminals in charge of the country. This drought is their fault. How is it possible to even conceive of stealing purely for profit at a time like this? Yes, every MP is responsible for the millions of starving Kenyans. I stand here and accuse each one of you for allowing a genocide to take place in Kenya. What difference does it make whether a person is being hacked to pieces or starving to death for the personal gain of someone else?

Sorry. It is impossible to write anything about Kenya these days without having to refer to the murderers that run this country. Alas, there is a little breathing space and we were fortunate enough to receive a donation from Ladies In Action (my folks) and the Klara Foundation (a Dutch couple with a love for Kenya) to go and purchase up to 100,000Ksh of food items which we did yesterday. The Radio Africa group (East FM, Kiss FM and the Nairobi Star) have been stationed at just about every Nakumatt in Nairobi alongside the Red Cross encouraging people to buy that extra packet of unga. I believe there has been an amazing response and they will the Radio Africa group will work closely with the Red Cross to ensure everything collected under their initiative will reach its destination.

Elodie, Maya and myself went to Nakumatt Prestige yesterday afternoon and purchased Ksh 97,652/= worth of maize meal, wheat flour, uji mix, sugar, salt and oil and handed it over to the Red Cross and Radio Africa. Please note of this, ksh 3,902/= is a compulsory donation through tax that will go directly into the pockets of MPs and other civil servants. They will then do what they always do - arrive at a press conference in a convoy of mercedes', prados and lexus worth no less than Ksh 100million and beg to the west for alms to help prevent them from killing more Kenyans.

And life goes on...