One of CBF’s most faithful partners in global disaster relief is Conscience International, led by our friend Dr. Jim Jennings, of Gainesville, Florida. We have been working closely in Haiti, building “rubble houses.”
Conscience International responded to the greatly increased refugee flows from Somalia into southern Ethiopia and Northeastern Kenya during June and July, 2011 by planning the organization of a medical intervention for at-risk children in the Dolo region of Ethiopia and also helping to distribute food items at the giant Dadaab camp in Kenya.
The goal was to treat malnourished, dehydrated, and at-risk children with life-saving medical and nutritional interventions.
Conscience International provided medical staff, supplies, and equipment for the operation of a mobile clinic capable of stabilizing and rescuing children at Dolo camp(s) or elsewhere in the drought-affected region where refugees are concentrated.
The project is expected to continue at least until the end of 2012.
On July 24 Dr. Jennings joined the European Union’s High Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid for an inspection of the health, shelter, and food distribution work at Dadaab Camp in Kenya.
The MCM (Korean) Hospital in Addis Ababa will provide housing and meals for volunteer physicians and nurses while in transition from abroad to the refugee camps on the Ethiopia-Somalia border.
The large MCM mobile health clinic vehicle is available and will be leased to Conscience International for the duration of the project.
The local Ethiopian medical staff is responsible for overall project management, which means implementing the project within the parameters and regulations of Ethiopian law, and in cooperation with international agencies and NGOs tasked with refugee aid. It also means negotiating with local officials of the Ethiopian government and supervising the overall set-up and operation of the field camp and field team.
David Harding, CBF Coordinator for International Disasters, visited Dolo Camps on the Ethiopia-Somalia Border, in July, 2011
The short term relief work with food and medicene as well as the long term response work of well digging and sustainable community have already begun.. I encourage all to pray for David Harding, Sam Harrell and Conscience International as they work to implement a planned response (one engagement is the one mentioend in this article).. Our giving is also needed..