Caritas Kenya: Leading
the Fight against Hunger
and Poverty
By Stephen Mukhongi
A
ccording to the World Food Programme (WFP) about
795 million people in the world do not have enough
food to lead a healthy, active life. That’s about one in
nine people on earth.
On the other hand poor nutrition causes nearly half (45
percent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children
each year.
The United Nations agency further states that Sub-Saharan
Africa is the region with the highest occurrence (percentage of
population) of hunger.
longer turn away from the millions of people who are suffering
from hunger.
“We are in front of a global scandal of around one billion
people who still suffer from hunger today. We cannot look the
other way and pretend this does not exist. The food available in
the world is enough to feed everyone,” he reiterated.
“This campaign is also an invitation to all of us to become more
conscious in our food choices, which often lead to waste and
a poor use of the resources available to us. It is also a reminder
to stop thinking that our daily actions do not have an impact on
These are few facts and figures that one will come across in
the lives of those who suffer from hunger firsthand.”
numerous government and non-governmental organizations
One Human Family, Food for All objective is to unite the
reports, clearly indicating how hunger and poverty remain
major problems affecting many people the world over.
efforts of the Caritas confederation’s 164 member organisations
working in 200 countries and territories around the world
But how well are these reports addressed? And who is
towards eradicating hunger by 2025.
responsible for addressing them?
One of the 164 member organizations is Caritas Kenya-
While launching Caritas Internationalis’ global campaign
which is the National Development and Humanitarian arm
against hunger One Human Family, Food for All in 2013,
Pope Francis said that it is everyone’s including the Church’s
of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) that
was established in 1973 and launched as a Directorate on
responsibility to eliminate hunger and poverty in the world.
November 2012.
“I invite all of the institutions of the world, the Church and each
Caritas is a Latin word that means Love of God for Humanity
of us, as one single human family, to give a voice to all of those
who suffer silently from hunger, so that this voice becomes a
and through Caritas Kenya the Church in Kenya carries out
social economic development and humanitarian interventions
roar which can shake the world,” said the pontiff.
especially to the needy and the most vulnerable in the country.
Pope Francis who upon his ascent to the papacy called for a
“Over the years the Church has been and will continue to be in
“poor church for the poor” further said that the world can no
the front-line to lobby and advocate for better services delivery
THE SEED - VOL 27, No. 10 OCTOBER 2015
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