HUNGER CRISIS AND HIGH INFLATION

Prayer Request

Despite the gloomy and hopeless situations around us, we place our trust in the Lord our God, who has promised to answer our prayers and restore our land because he is a dependable keeper of promises. We ask God to bring the much-needed rains as we look into his faithfulness in providing for the finances needed to care for the needs of the children, youths and communities under our care.

Background

According to reports from various organizations, 3.5 million people in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) are believed to be severely food insecure because of consecutive poor rainy seasons that have negatively impacted crop production. Even across Kenya, acute food insecurity remains elevated due to drought impacts on multiple below-average crop and livestock production seasons and high inflation.

Food, transportation, and gasoline expenses drove Kenya’s annual inflation rate to a five-year high of 8.3% in August. At the same time, the government stopped the maize subsidy program that had been given to millers to bring down the cost of maize flour to 100 KES (0.83 USD). The cost of a 2 kg package of maize flour has now soared to more than 200 KES (1.66 USD), the highest level in the last five years. As a result, access to food is constrained among poor households, in addition to stagnant wages in urban areas and shrinking income-earning opportunities in rural areas.

As previously mentioned, the cost of transportation and food products has increased due to the recent spike in fuel costs. Consequently, households will continue to experience diminishing purchasing power due to rising food prices and severe inflation. They will be forced to sell their possessions in order to pay for food and other essentials.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Psalm 146:5-6 (TLB)

But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God— [6] the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise.