Liben Bule, 88, Ethiopia
Liben, 88, lost most of his cattle because of the drought. He now relies on a cash grant to buy food for his family.
Liben, 88 moved to Borena from Arero district 16 years ago, to escape a conflict which was going on at the time. He used to own cattle and spent his time raising livestock. However, because of the drought, most of them died and he was forced to sell the rest to earn money to buy food.
His family is able to buy food using a cash grant provided by our partner, Action for Development in Borena. They use the money to buy food which lasts them for 26 days per month.
"I live with my wife, Tari and our three sons. The oldest has a mental disorder. He is married and lives next door with his wife. Their 3 children, my grandchildren - Garo (7), Jillo (4) and Dhaki (2); live with my sons, my wife and me in the my house. My sons, Bika (16) and Galgalo (12), used to work on our land.
"Due to my physical disability which emerged a few years ago, my main responsibility was feeding the animals. Now, I spend my days taking care of my grandchildren.
My shed now stands empty
"I owned 20 cattle. Fresh, moist animal manure covered the ground in the shed once. This is no longer the case. 11 of the cattle died because of starvation. I had 30 goats. I sold them to buy animal feed. The remaining 9 cattle, I sold to buy my eldest son's medication for his illness. The payment I received is lower than usual. But they were at the verge of dying as I had nothing left to sell to provide for them anyway. Now I have no animals of any kind. My shed stands empty.
In addition to the livestock, I grew teff, wheat, beans and sorghum. The lack of rainfall during the rainy season has resulted in the loss of all crops. Currently, I have to purchase the foods for the household from the market. The drought has caused a shortfall in the market supply and hence prices have increased.
We can only afford to taste food rather than eat it
"Food is very expensive these days. My family and I can only afford to ‘taste' rather than eat food in the evenings. We have maize, thanks to the cash grant, I get from Action for Development (HelpAge's implementing partner in Borena). With the money, I buy food which lasts us 26 days per month. A kg of maize now costs 7 Ethiopian Birr (US$0.41), it used to be less than half of that. In the mornings, we have tea with salt. Before, we ate three times a day. Dairy products are important in the Borena culture but no longer are accessible.
"We obtain water for the household from a nearby water pump. My wife, Tari carries a 20 litre jerry can every three days for my family of seven.
No rain has fallen
"In my life, I have never seen an emergency similar to this one. I have noticed the rains decreasing over the past few years. We used to migrate to vegetation abundant sites to feed our animals. But all districts have been affected the same. No rain has fallen, not even one day. I fear this trend will continue. If it does, I don't know what to do to escape the disaster that will befall my family.
"In desperate times, the community would support the vulnerable; this too is no longer possible. Everyone is struggling the same way. All I have ever known is farming and keeping livestock. I hope the rains will not let us down in the coming two months."