Kenya: Response to Lack of Sufficient Food

Meet Asinyen

Hunger and starvation is the reality for too many still. It’s a deadly cycle and only together, can we help fight end hunger. 

“I don’t have any hope for the future,” Asinyen says.

You see, five days ago, Asinyen received a small bag of rice from a friend and fellow SDA church member. She made it stretch to last three days, but she hasn’t eaten since. And, she doesn’t know when she will eat again.

Asinyen’s tiny hut lies on the edge of a town in northern Kenya surrounded by little more than dust. It’s desolate and lonely.

Made from thatch and scrap tin, her home isn’t much, but it is all she has.

Her children left in search of survival, her food stores are always empty, and the clothes she wears are all she owns.

But even this home is not really hers – Asinyen has been squatting on the land for years, knowing that one day the owners will return and she will be forced to leave.

The impact of hunger is devastating. It has not only robbed Asinyen of hope, but it has also taken one of her children – 20 years ago one of her children died due to hunger and malnutrition.

“I go hungry often,” Asinyen says. “When it’s been a couple of days, I’ll go to my friends and hope they can feed me.”

As she approaches a friend’s home, Asinyen is never sure what she will find. Sometimes they will be able to give her food, or money.

Other times, they will ask her to leave because they don’t have anything to share. They are hungry too.

In the past, Asinyen could count on the help of her neighbors. Now everyone is experiencing the same deadly hunger. More often than not, she leaves empty-handed and hungry.

“I get sick all the time because I don’t eat enough,” Asinyen says. “I am very weak, and I can’t work anymore because of it.”