March 13, 2006
When it rains
Ethiopia's drought-stricken Oromia and Somali regions got a few days of rain recently. A reason to celebrate? You would have thought so. But, according to OCHA's latest Humanitarian Bulletin, the short unseasonal shower is actually being seen as a sign of more dry months to come and a failed April rainy season.
In another field report I read, the rain showers, and the corresponding fall in temperatures, actually led to the death of more livestock. And the pools of water left by the roadside and near villages have raised the prospect of a surge in malaria cases.
Sometimes you struggle to understand why Africa remains one of the most optimistic places on earth.
Posted by aheavens at March 13, 2006 4:32 PM
Comments
"Sometimes you struggle to understand why Africa remains one of the most optimistic places on earth"
Because we keep thinking that it can't possibly get worse ...
Posted by: tobian at March 13, 2006 11:47 PM
Lesotho is suffering from years of drought. 2006 to date has been a year of record rainfall, more than doubling the previous record precipitation of 1988. But the rains are too late for this year's crops, the floods have killed dozens of people, and soil erosion has destroyed a third of the crops that had survived until January. Your story is familiar.
Posted by: Paul at March 14, 2006 6:22 AM
My heart goes out to the lowland muslim pastorlists of south eastern ethiopia. They have always been completely disfranchised from the central power structure and remain as the poorest of the poor.
In your last post, you mentioned that there was no disaster monitoring in the area you were traveling in. That says a lot. If you notice, there is no impending disaster in Eastern Tigray-only eastern oromia and the somali region.
Ethiopians and the Ethiopian goverment do not care for them, and their needs have always been addressed the least by all the various goverments of Ethiopia.
Are they optomistic I wonder? Probably, because like most Africans, they refuse to believe that Allah/God will completely abandon them.
Posted by: Safiya at March 15, 2006 3:26 AM
wow this sux its always oromia why not tigray is it because tplf dont give a damn about the oromo people oromia was ethiopias breadbasket but now its just turtning ito one of those dry lands while tigray is actually prospering weird? i dont think so in ethiopa its not suprising to see a man dead on the street anymore i seen lots trust me and it aint nice but life goes on its just another person...dead on the street
Posted by: #1 oromo at August 15, 2008 2:49 AM