Nakure is 45 years old and the mother of eight children. Living in South Sudan she has faced many challenges in her life, but none as dire as what she and her family are currently living through. Nakure and her husband have a small plot of land where they have traditionally practiced subsistence farming. Even back when they were getting good harvests, it was hardly enough to feed their family. Rain failed to come in 2015, and they lost everything they had planted. Most all of their cows and goats have died in the drought, and the ones that have survived are so skinny that they don’t sell for much.

The only way that they have been able to survive is by going out into the jungle and collect whatever edible plants and fruits they can find.

She says, “My children come to me asking for food and I have to tell them, ‘I am sorry children, there is no food today’. I go out and collect wild fruits and we eat this to survive. The last time we were able to eat a regular meal is one week ago. This drought has taken everything we had. Even if the rains came back, we have no seeds left to plant or tools to work our field.”

Nakure is just one of the millions of people who are experiencing a food crisis in East Africa today. ADRA Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is saving lives through emergency food distributions.

Nakure is grateful for the rations that she has received from Canada and wishes she could thank the donors directly. “May God bless you and your family”, she says.