Between Coronavirus and Locusts, Kenya’s Rural Communities Overwhelmed
Kenya (Mission Network News) — The coronavirus couldn’t have come at a worse time for Kenya’s rural communities. Kenyan farmers were already struggling with a massive locust outbreak — the worst locust infestation some East African countries have seen in 70 years. Food supplies have been dangerously low.
Now, those gathering in rural areas to avoid locusts risk spreading the coronavirus. And with everyone shut in their homes, people can’t go to work or make money to buy what little food is left. The food that is available is also marked at higher prices.
“Then they also have the issue of the curfew,” says Joy Mueller with Kenya Hope. “They have to be at their homes by five o’clock in the evening. For our communities that are so remote, they have to travel a great distance, and now the local market — or you could say the open-air markets where they typically will buy food — have all been closed down.”
Before the pandemic, Kenya Hope was teaching Kenyan families how to make antibacterial hand soap. It turned out to be a Godsend.
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