IDES Assists Tanzania Relief Work

Scott Price, leader of CMF’s Arusha, Tanzania, team, shared an update recently on the continuing drought situation in Tanzania and the generous donation from International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES) that will help the team assist the local people.

All of northern Tanzania is experiencing the effects of the drought, Scott says. Neighbors near the CMF mission center just outside of Arusha have planted three or four times this year with no crops to harvest due to the lack of rain. “Things are looking bleak,” Scott writes.

The government is helping by giving each family 22 pounds (10 kg.) of maize, but that is just a drop in the bucket. The CMF team members – Scott and Annelle Price, Ron and Jane Ann Richmond, and Gary and Judy Woods — are trying to help their neighbors near the mission station by offering daily rations of 1/4 kg. maize, 1/4 kg. beans, and a small amount of cooking oil to 71 families for three months. The team has used the funds received through CMF’s East African Famine Relief Fund to feed the 705 children who attend six schools in Matale, a site in northern Tanzania where the team has planted several churches. These funds are coming to an end, reports Scott, and the team has been asked to not only help these kids for an additional three months but also others who no doubt will die because of the lack of food.

IDES is stepping up to help the team respond to these critical needs with a generous donation of $20,000. This is not the first time IDES has assisted with emergencies in Africa; in the recent past they have donated funds for a water project in Turkana, Maasai famine relief and several other projects. Their help is greatly appreciated especially by those whose lives are helped, perhaps even saved, by the resources given.