This year's "super" El Niño is shaping up to be one of the strongest on record.
The weather pattern, which develops every seven years or so, has been blamed for everything from a warm winter in the United States to the massive flooding triggered by Storm Frank in the United Kingdom.
But the most heartbreaking conditions so far can be found in Ethiopia, where El Niño's impact on the ongoing drought is expected to leave an estimated 10 million people desperate for aid.
Those in need include Buho Asowe Eye, who lives in the Siti region of the country in the Horn of Africa, where farming is a means of survival.
"We live by water; our cattle live by water," she said. "Without water, we are no more."
The water, she told humanitarian aid organization Oxfam, is "retreating deeper and deeper" into the wells. She's lost nearly 200 animals due to starvation. She's now relying on Oxfam for water and other supplies that are distributed from centers for internally displaced people (IDPs).
"My greatest fear is if the trucks stop bringing water," she said. "What will happen to us?”
The conditions can be especially hard on women like Eye, who often are responsible for gathering water for the family. The drought creates longer — and sometimes more dangerous — excursions to find water. Men migrate to find work elsewhere, leaving women to care for the children and homestead on their own.
"This kind of situation always has a larger burden on women and children," Nahuel Arenas, humanitarian director at Oxfam America, told Refinery29.
Oxfam, one of multiple organizations working on the ground, is aiming to help more than 700,000 of those suffering in Ethiopia. But the efforts are hindered by a $25 million funding gap, Arenas and other officials there say. The consequences of failing to act could far outlast the weather event — the loss of livestock, either through starvation or sale, for example, can set a family back financially for years.
"It’s difficult to recover from that spiral," Arenas said.
The United Nations has echoed that urgent call for more assistance.
"We are here to re-sound the alarm, to spur a collective response to the humanitarian suffering caused by changes in weather patterns linked to El Niño and to take action now to mitigate its effects," Stephen O'Brien, the UN Under-Secretary General for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement issued last week. "If we act now, we will save lives and livelihoods and prevent an even more serious humanitarian emergency from taking hold.”
Oxfam has provided Refinery29 with haunting photos showing the conditions in Ethopia. Click through to see them — and find out how you can help.
Fadeto IDP center, where Oxfam has provided emergency water, unconditional cash grants, animal food distribution, emergency communal latrines, and distributed hygiene kits.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
Hawa Seid, 25, has two children. Hawa walked for one day to get to the Fadeto IDP center.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
“It is a lot better here, because we get water from the tank every day. But the amount we get is not sufficient,” Seid said.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
Fatuma Roble Maidane has seven children. Fatuma has lost 190 sheep and goats and 23 cattle because of the drought. She now has 10 goats and sheep and two cattle.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
A water tank built in Hariso by Oxfam provides 10,000 cubic meters of clean water per day. Each household receives 30 liters per day.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
Amina Hassen and Shukri Ige try to get water from a well dug by villagers. They have been working for more than three hours to fill their leather bags with water. Amina is seven months pregnant.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
The holes are getting drier, making it more difficult to get water from them. Often, water collected this way is not suitable for drinking
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
Many animals have died as a result of the drought. Animal carcasses are a common sight around the Fadeto and Hariso IDP centers in the Siti region of Ethiopia.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.
Buho used to have 200 goats and sheep and 10 camels — they were her means of income. She used them for food (milk) and cash (selling goats and sheep). She bought sugar, salt, and clothes with the cash. Most of Buho's animals died due to a lack of water and pasture. She now only has one camel and 10 goats and sheep.
For more on Oxfam's efforts — and to learn how to help — visit this link.
Photo: Courtesy of Abiy Getahun/Oxfam.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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