20 million people in need of food assistance

The failure of two rainy seasons in Ethiopia has put the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the country’s southern and eastern lowland areas at risk. ChildFund International and Christian Children’s Fund of Canada are combining their efforts to address the impact of the current drought on the lives and livelihoods of drought-affected people.

NAIROBI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Antonia Lelokong, a 28-year-old widow, bears the scorching sun in a small village in northern Kenya as she waited for her turn in the queue to receive her food ration.

Eleven-year-old Kamal* walked barefoot across scorched scrubland for a week from his home in Somalia to Kenya. With their crops and livestock devastated by drought, Kamal’s family had no choice but to leave and try their luck in a new country.

Kamal was lucky. Unlike many children who died along the way, he made it across the Kenyan border, and is now living in Dolow, near Ethiopia.

But there, too, the situation is desperate.

* Not his real name. Name has been changed to protect his privacy.