Overwhelming reply to DEC Africa appeal

THE SUkFERINGS -01 the people of Africa in the face of the worst drought in living memory have prompted an unprecedented show of generosity in this country.
Already the appeal by the bishops of England and Wales for Africa has topped £700,000, and the showing of a moving film about the effects of drought in Ethiopia, The Seedsof Despair, on ITV last Tuesday has brought an immediate response. Over £50,000 has arrived in the offices of the Disasters' Emergency Committee for Ethiopia.
The DEC is made up of five development agencies — Cafod, Save the Children, British Red Cross, Christian Aid and Oxfam. Their joint appeal for famine victims in the Horn of Africa has raised £20,000 in just two days, Martina Hutton of Cafod reported. Cafod are administering the appeal this year.
The crisis facing Kenya was highlighted this week by Josphat Mulyungi, the development coordinator of the diocese of Kitui in eastern Kenya during a visit to London. He spoke of the severity of the effects of the drought. "People have eaten their food stocks and their seeds for the next harvest".
He concluded his address with an impassioned appeal. "It is tragic that anyone should die from lack of food. Why does there have to be so 'flatly deaths before action is taken?" Emergency help is needed now, but support for our development programmes must continue otherwise we will never be free from the spectre of famine".