Hello. I’m Sharon Elliott, CEO of Ethiopiaid Australia.
Now as I’m sure you’ve seen, there’s been a great deal of
media attention directed towards Ethiopia these past few months.
This actually stems from the conflict between the ruling party
in the Tigrayan region of Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front,
and the Ethiopian government. This has been going on now since November last year.
Since that time, we've seen thousands of deaths,
over 2 million people have been displaced, homes have been destroyed,
hospitals & health centres looted. We've also seen a 6-week communication blackout,
and there have been multiple reports of human rights abuses including rape and mass shootings.
Now even after communication blackout has been lifted, it's been difficult to know with certainty
as what’s happening in the country now. We've seen many conflicting accounts of what's going on.
But I have to say there are two things that we really do know with certainty.
Now one of them is that we do need to have an impartial investigation into the conflict.
But also that I am here – and that Ethiopiaid is here – we're here for the people,
and to make sure we're here to help those that are most vulnerable.
And that’s why I wanted to tell you about something else that’s happening right now.
This is another tragedy and it's endangering hundreds of
thousands. Except this one the media is keeping much more silent about.
Now this is going on in Afar. Afar shares an eastern border with Tigray. And this is a
crisis that's not politically motivated but is borne from one natural disaster after another.
In Afar now, they've seen three years of drought.
This has killed off herds of livestock. which are the lifeblood of the region.
They've seen biblical plagues of locusts which started at the beginning of 2020
and have decimated remaining grazing land there.
And we've had never-before-seen floods that have happened between August and October last year,
destroyed whole communities and hundreds of family homes.
And then, this year on January 18, the locusts came back.
So the reports I've been getting in now every week are just devastating.
You know, it's really awful reading.
So on January the 18th 2021, the first phone calls came in that the dreaded locust swarms
were coming back. Some of the words that have come in these reports are quite confronting. We've been
told that the sun was blotted out by the swarms. We've heard reports of fully grown beasts as big
as birds. People have said that it's punched fear and dread back into the hearts of the herdsmen.
Bidu and Kori, two of the villages, have now sunk into dangerous thirst
levels. And we're being told that women are having to walk 12 to 14 hours each day to collect water.
Now these locusts have consumed the pasture,
which has left animal herds with no fodder and families with no food. Without help now,
these children will endure stunted growth which will be crippling them.
As of mid-Jan, 89,000 Tigrayan refugees have fled into Afar following the conflict in their home
region. This is 89,000 people that are fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their back. They
have nothing to go back to. Homes & business have been looted and crop and harvests have been burnt.
These people are fleeing into a region where food is scarce,
water is unavailable, and local the economies and markets have been decimated by disaster.
Our local partners APDA are doing all that they can. They've had emergency water trucking
in place for 80 days. Now this is the only source of water for these remote communities.
We're really holding out hope for rains in April. Still nothing yet, but we can still hold out hope.
605 refugee households have been provided now with cooking, sleeping, food and hygiene items.
And we do expect a further 2,000 households to receive support over the next couple of months.
APDA have also provided nutrition supplements that are for pregnant and for breastfeeding mothers.
And there's also been animal fodder and vet supplies put in place to save
herds. Because as I said before, these herds are the real core of the communities here.
But even with nothing, we've seen the Afar locals have amazing generosity of spirit.
They've been bringing the Tigrayan neighbours into their homes, sharing what little food,
water and soap they have, even sending scouts out into the forests along the border to find
and physically carry the Tigrayans away from danger when they're too weak to walk.
Now, some of these Afar households have received food or financial
aid from the government but what was available was very quickly exhausted.
You'll know as well as I how devastating the drought is. We see it far too often here in
Australia. But at least we have the government, media and giant supermarkets like Coles and
Woolies, and of course other passionate Aussies coming together to help out in times of emergency.
But the people of Afar are largely alone.
Their herds are dead, families are starving and children are stunted. But this is all happening in
silence. Because the Australian media is silent on this tragedy that is happening right now.
Now I have had a number of calls and emails from supporters.
Sometimes wondering how our areas of work have been affected by everything that’s happening;
the Tigray conflict, the Afar crisis and of course COVID around the country.
So it is a big strain in Afar. APDA are fighting to provide emergency relief but of course doing
it alongside long-term recovery to help build up infrastructure, economy & resilience. So this is
the kind of thing we’re funding and what of course you can give to too, if you do want to help.
Now we haven't currently been funding any active project partners in Tigray over the last year,
but we will be resuming funding for our past partner Dignity Period.
They provide sanitary kits so girls can stay in school. But following COVID lockdowns,
hospitals/health centres looted in the area, sanitary items are in hugely short supply.
So we will be supplying to basically anyone who is in need of these items.
Now of course COVID has put a strain on many areas of our work. It has seen vulnerable communities
like Debre Berhan pushed further into poverty due to lockdowns and job closures. And there's
been many people that have been fearful to leave their home and have then not accessed
healthcare when they've needed it which has included palliative care and maternal health.
Now especially in the area of maternal health, our project partners Healing Hands of Joy weren’t able
to send out their Safe Motherhood Ambassadors to find and help those women who are suffering from
fistula. Now this of course has resulted in a backlog of women who are suffering in isolation
when they just really shouldn’t have to. But of course despite these setbacks and
tragedy, all project partners have been fighting to help those under their care.
And you – the Ethiopiaid community – have played a huge part in making this possible.
And I really do want to say a big thank you for your generous and continued support.
You really are the reason why the most vulnerable in our world today will
have a better future ahead, even in the face of disease, disaster and conflict.
Now if you want to find out any more information on the crisis in Afar
do take a look at our website. There's a lot more information that you can see on there.
And I’ll also be sending out more info shortly on other pressing areas of need as well.
But until then. as I said, thank you again and I really do wish health and hope to you all.