Maltese answer plea for help from famine-hit region

More than Lm64,000 have been raised by the Maltese to help feed thousands of people in famine-stricken Kenya who are fighting for their lives, the Capuchin Friars said.

The funds have been sent to Mgr Paul Darmanin, the Bishop of Garissa, who last month made a heartfelt appeal for help.

Dry and cooked food is being supplied from the Capuchin mission's stations and lorries have been hired to transport the supplies to distant places.

More than three million people are suffering as more than two years of draught have started taking their toll on the north-eastern region of Kenya.

"The vast dry sands of the desert around Madera, El Wak, Wajir, Habaswein, Modogashe and Garissa are littered with the carcasses of goats, cows and camels which succumbed to the famine that is also killing babies and the elderly," the Franciscan Capuchin Mission Secretariat said. It is thought that the situation will remain dire for some months after the expected rains in March or April. Without help, thousands of people will continue to suffer and die. International media have said that 10 per cent of the population - around 2.5 million people - are threatened by the severe draught. Kenya needs around $150 million to provide them with food for the next six months.

Mgr Darmanin is being helped by Maltese Capuchin missionaries John Cassar, Joe Galea and Spiro Galea as well as by the Kenyan, Italian and Spanish clergy, religious and lay missionaries working in his diocese.

The mission has opened Guh fil-Kenya bank accounts to make donations easier: APS Bank: 2000039057-6, Bank of Valletta: 40014859197, HSBC: 089021505053 and Lombard Bank: 01172108874.

Donations can also be sent directly to the Mission Office, Franciscan Capuchin Friary, Floriana VLT 14, which can be contacted on 2123 3874, 2122 5525 or by e-mail at ofmcap@keyworld.net.