Secondary: Rapid Response Assemblies



DROUGHT IN AFRICA

By James Lamont

NB: As with all rapid-response assemblies, the situation changes quickly. Please update before using.

Suitable for Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5

Aim

To consider the human-driven factors contributing to drought in the Horn of Africa.

Preparation and resources

• Download pictures of the famine and refugee camps from reputable news sites.
• You might like to show a map of the area.
  

Assembly

1. Following successive droughts over the past few years, a famine is emerging in the Horn of Africa. The famine has affected Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. There are three main causes for the famine, and a number of other factors that have made the situation far worse.
   
   – First, there have been severe droughts across the region. These droughts have crippled the main industry of the nations, which is growing cash crops such as coffee for export.
   
   – Second, this drought has killed livestock, a useful (and for many, main) source of food, trade and mobility, hampering the efforts of farmers to grow crops and also depriving them of an emergency food source.
   
   – Finally, the price of basic foods on the market has increased dramatically. The price of corn in Kenya has risen 160 per cent since July 2010, and the retail price of red sorghum has jumped 169 per cent, according to the Financial Times (5 July 2011).
   
2. The combination of these three factors spells catastrophe for farmers and smallholders across the region, raising the spectre of a famine similar to that seen in Ethiopia in 1984 and 1985. As a result of that famine, musicians joined forces to create Live Aid, which raised around £150 million in total. This time, the UK government has pledged £38 million and public donations are increasing. The response to the famine has been good; the tragedy is that, for many, it is just too late.
   
3. It is tempting to think that this is a crisis caused by nature on the other side of the world. Yet the global trade system, in which European nations including the UK participate, is partially responsible. Climate change is making it harder to grow certain foods, and the rush to use biofuels instead of petroleum has driven up the price of corn as we burn biofuel to power cars and power stations.
   
4. At the L’Aquila summit in Italy in 2009, the G8 group of major economies and five other donors promised $22 billion (£13.7 billion) in financing for agriculture, to be delivered within three years. According to The Guardian, Canada and Italy have disbursed two-thirds of their pledges but France, the USA and the UK, which pledged £1.1 billion, have fulfilled only 28 per cent, 2 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. The USA pledged the largest amount, $3.5 billion, but has paid out only $73 million.
   
5. We have seen this before. We are quick to respond to a famine or crisis, but ignore the creeping causes of such horrors. The problems in East Africa are very long term. Somalia, in particular, is in the grip of a seemingly endless civil war, which has only made matters worse. Every day, a thousand refugees flee to Kenya. Most non-government organizations, the charities that work with people on the ground, have left Somalia because of the insecurity and danger to their workers.
   
   This famine is the conflagration of a wide series of terrible occurrences and, in future, political leaders might do well to consider continuing support to these countries.
   

Time for reflection

Show the images of the famine, and pause.

Play the music.

We are quick to blame the climate for what is happening to these people, but how are we driving global warming ourselves?

We all have far more food than the people fleeing the drought and war in Somalia, but how much of that food do we waste?

Spend a few moments now, thinking how you could help the people in the horn of Africa:
– Could you raise some money to give to charity?
– Could you lower your own carbon footprint? Every little helps.

How can we change the world, one step at a time?

Music

Download some typical African choral singing, which is unaccompanied.
‘Fragile’ by Sting, widely available to download.