Samburu

The Samburu people are a semi-nomadic people group living in the central Rift Valley area of Kenya. Population is estimated to be around 150,000. Their livelihood is dependent upon the cattle, sheep and goats they raise. Living in a semi-arrid climate, they do very little farming and the search for water and grazing land leads out from their homes during dry seasons.

The Samburu, as with much of Kenya, are currently living during a severe drought. While most people have never been desperate enough to scrounge for fallen kernels of corn in the dusty ground, famine is a harsh daily reality for millions of people in Kenya.

In January 2009, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared the food shortage a national disaster. “Our national assessment is that 10 million people are food insecure and require emergency support,” Kibaki said. “These people will not be able to meet their minimum food requirements between now and the end of August 2009 without emergency methods.”

The food crisis was caused in part by severe drought, as well as the global energy crisis and last year’s post-election violence, which disrupted planting in the country’s breadbasket region, Kibaki said.

We would like to be able to say that conditions are improving. It just isn’t the case. The Samburu continue to encounter hunger at almost every turn.

Bridge Community is helping the Samburu. Recently Bridge Community collected enough in donations that workers in Kenya were able to purchase 54 bags of food.

There is still so much more to do. If you would like to contribute to help the Samburu, we take a collection each Sunday at our Gathering or please click here to contact us.