A couple and their four children,
all under 12, have been on the road for four days. It'll be another two
days before they reach their destination - their home. They'd left it a
year ago after yet another crop failure left them with nothing. A Red Cross
assessment team in the district of Baabilee in East Hararghe encountered
the family as it trekked slowly homewards along a dusty path.
They've spent the past year in Hartesheik
in Somalia, begging. Upon hearing the news that rain had been falling in
East Hararghe, the family packed up what little it had and began the long
journey back. They have no animals to help tend the land or seeds to plant.
But the rains had brought out a desperate optimism among a people battered
by the elements.
Most of the district of Baabilee are arid. There has been no rain here for seven months. Crops planted to coincide with the belg rains which fall between January and April, have failed to materialise. It's the latest in a long line of crop failures over the past two years. And with each failure, the situation of the farmers has deteriorated even further. With no food reserves, the farmers have looked to the government to help. But its emergency food reserves are low and there is no sign of any food aid for the people of Baabilee any time soon.
The family coming back from Somalia is unusual. If anything, people have been moving away from their homes and land, unable to cope anymore. In Baabilee, 402 households have left. Most of them for Somalia.
But fifty-three year old Bashir Yusef, a widower with four children, is staying put. Two months ago, he planted maize at the beginning of the belg season. Although nothing grew in the parched soil, last week's rains have made him think again about how to feed his family.
"If the rains continue, I will plant sorghum and groundnuts," he explains. "But I need money to buy the seeds. The only way for me to get is by making charcoal." Bashir is paid just 12 bir (aprox $1.50) for a 10 kilo bag of charcoal. Unfortunately for him, many others are resorting to selling charcoal to raise money for food or seeds and prices have fallen.
Westwards of Baabilee, in the highlands, farmers have been out all day every day last week, ploughing and planting their soil, making the most of the rain which had fallen. They're keen to get crops started ahead of the meher rains in June.
But even if they come, the crops won't be ready for harvesting until September at the earliest and December at the latest. That still leaves at least five months without any food reserves and a month for food rations to be put into place before the rains make the roads impassable.
=A91997 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies