Emergency Support To 200 Women And Children, Refugees Of The Jemps Tribe

Project location: Kenya
Project start date: April 2005 - Project end date: May 2005
Project number: 2005-20
Beneficiary: SEMPRE INSIEME PER LA PACE

In 2005 the "Sempre Insieme per la Pace" Association received a request for intervention from the Nando Peretti Foundation in favour of the "Gallmann Memorial Foundation" in Kenya, following a visit of the NPF President Elsa Peretti to the Gallmann's structures in the Country.

Thanks to the grant awarded from the NPF for this project, "Sempre Insieme per la Pace" was able to successfully put its experience in the humanitarian field at the disposal of the Gallmann Memorial Foundation, which had recently given prompt shelter to 200 children and their mothers (refugees of the Jemps tribe, in northen Kenya) escaped from a violent sack that had destroyed their native village.

Final Report

Kenya is a multicultural country with 43 diverse tribes, each with a different language and a wealth of traditions and diversity. Tribal clashes - fuelled by grazing disputes, a raging drought and ancient ethnic differences between the Pokot and the Jemps tribes along the Mukutani/Suguta areas of the Great Rift valley in the Baringo district of Northern Kenya - have resulted in cattle rustling, random killings and destruction of homesteads. Large amount of illegal firearms coming from the southern Sudan has made the security situation dangerous and unpredictable. The village of Mukutani has been particularly hit, with constant raids the worst of which resulted in a several deaths and stealing of livestock, and in all the inhabitants abandoning the village while pursued by Pokot warriors.

Following tribal clashes, killing and rustling of livestock, just over two hundred women and small children of the Jemps tribe came to ask for protection and shelter, at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy, a 100.000 acres wildlife and nature reserve-and the home of the Gallmann Memorial Foundation in the western Laikipia region of northern Kenya.

The village of Mukutani had been attacked during the night, and the refugees had escaped leaving behind destruction and an empty and looted village, without carrying any belonging. Many of their men had been killed in the raids, and the survivors had escaped with the remaining livestock. The women age ranged from very young to very old, and some of the women were in the last stages of pregnancy. The children age ranged from a few weeks to 14 years of ages with a prevalence of 3 to 8 years of age. All suffered from colds, various lung ailments, malnutrition, intestinal diseases and parasites, diarrhea, and skin infections and funguses.

The refugees were temporarily accommodated in existing outbuilding and provided with food and basic items of immediate necessity, such as pots, hurricane lamps, firewood, tarpaulins, and spring water, while urgent needs was for a sustained supply of food, milk formula, medicine, clean drinking water, clothes and blankets.
The Government had promised to intervene and there were hopes that the situation stabilised in the region and the women and children could be reunited to their families and return to their village

The Gallmann Memorial Foundation had been providing single handed all basic necessities with no government support whatsoever, therefore the Nando Peretti Foundation decided to support Mrs Gallmann's efforts, through the help of the Sempre Insieme per la Pace Association.

"Sempre Insieme per la Pace" invited its usual sponsors to offer their support to answer to this emergency at best. As a result, a great deal of humanitarian aid (medical aid, teaching equipment, foodstuff and clothing) was shipped and delivered to the Gallmann Memorial Foundation in Kenya. In particular, the NPF grant was used to purchase the humanitarian aid, to rent the warehouse, to pay for the withdrawal of donated goods from producers and donors, as well as to cover the expenses for the container and the shipping.