Mennonite Weekly Review

AKRON, Pa. — When MCC representative Dan Leonard visited Dollo Ado refugee camp in late December, he was struck by the reality that the 150,000 Somali refugees who found safety and food in Ethiopia were not going home any time soon.

Halima (last name unknown), who settled into Dollo Ado camp in Ethiopia in December, uses water from a Mennonite Central Committee-supported water project. She and her family once lived in Mogadishu, Somalia, but left to avoid conflict and violence. — Photo by Dan Leonard/MCC

Somali refugees have been streaming out of their country in large numbers since last summer to escape famine and political instability, commonly attributed to a weak government and the Islamist militant group, al Shabaab, which refuses to allow humanitarian assistance in southern Somalia.

Somalis are finding refuge in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, which also are struggling with their own drought and rising food prices. Hunger and malnutrition are growing problems in sections of both host countries.

Mennonite Central Committee has committed $5.5 million to date in response to the drought and food crisis that has been gradually growing in East Africa since 2010 as two poor rainy seasons left subsistence farmers and pastoralists with little food, livestock or money.

Some MCC-supported projects are based on long-term strengthening of access to food and water as well as emergency food-for-work projects and food assistance. Other projects are focused on the needs of large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, which, in spite of their temporary purpose, could become home to people for years to come.

In Dollo Ado, located in the southeastern tip of Ethiopia, Leonard said, the refugees “can’t go back to Somalia, not just because they have no livestock or land, but because of the violence and instability. At this point, they can’t leave the camps for other cities in Ethiopia, either.”

“I fear for them,” said Leonard, who with his spouse, Karin Kliewer, also an MCC representative, live in Addis Abada, the capital of Ethiopia. “Donor money will dry up when this is off the headlines, but the need is not going away.”

Kliewer and Leonard are from Winnipeg, Man.

With $1.1 million, MCC is working through Lutheran World Federation, or LWF — a like-minded organization already operating in the camp — to respond to needs for water, sanitation and skills training. Environmental needs of the host community also are being addressed.

Increasing numbers of refugees require a steady supply of water. MCC funding purchases supplies needed to pump, hold and deliver well water for about 70,000 people. In addition, MCC is supporting creation of latrines and education about sanitation.