Kenya

Pandemic in Kenya: Many people found themselves left with nothing

When the first people died in Kenya in March 2020 due to COVID-19, lockdowns were imposed in Nairobi and many people lost their jobs. Especially day labourers living in the slums of the capital lost their livelihood from one day to the next and were no longer able to feed their families. "The pandemic hit those people especially hard who already had little before. They had no savings to fall back on. In many households, only a meagre meal was put on the table every day. The people in Mathare were poor before the pandemic, but with the pandemic they literally started to starve," says Martin Schömburg, Malteser International's Country Coordinator in Nairobi.

If it doesn't rain soon, people will die

Since the drought began two years ago, around 1.5 million animals have already died. More and more people need help to survive. Roba Bora and Ntitoya Mirgichan tell us about relatives who have already starved to death and how they are currently struggling to survive.

Launch of Emergency Operation Center in Nairobi

Malteser International, together with its national partner Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS), opened a new Emergency Operation Center (EOC) for the public ambulance service. In the future, the center will be used for the organization of ambulance missions and the distribution of patients to hospitals.

"The mask and soap production project came at just the right time"

Irene's story

Irene Auma is 24 years old and lives with her two small children in Nairobi, Kenya, in the Kariobangi district. "The COVID-19 crisis brought so many challenges. My husband is a casual worker and was out of work for a month. I stepped in and took on housework so we could even have enough to eat. We couldn't pay the rent and the landlord foreclosed on us. Malteser International and IECE came at the right time with the mask and soap production project. The soap and masks also helped the community a lot to protect themselves during the pandemic," says Irene Auma.

Kenya’s locust emergency: A crisis within a crisis

Millions of these locusts have been destroying vegetation and threatening millions of lives across East Africa and Kenya for the past few months. Sallo Guyo Wario has never experienced such a plague. The people in the northeast of Kenya live from cattle farming, but there is hardly anything left for the cows and goats to eat. We are providing emergency assistance to respond to the acute needs of affected communities.