A food shortage in Kenya prompts action from believers.

Kenya (MNN)–Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki has declared a national disaster in the drought-stricken parts of his country.

Large swaths of Kenya periodically experience droughts, and the last severe food shortage faced by the country came after below average rainfall during 2002.

World Vision Kenya’s emergency relief director, Beatrice Teya (taya) explains 3.3 million people are at risk of starvation as a result of this drought. She says, “We have a presence in about 30 districts, out of 71, and currently, in terms of relief, we have a program in the northern part of the country that is serving 150-thousand beneficiaries, out of which 25-thousand are children.”

Twenty-five World Vision sponsorship communities are located in the regions hardest hit by drought. WVI teams have already laid the foundation for their response.

Teya says while they are taking care of the immediate physical needs, they are also laying the foundation for a future ministry. “We are actually working with the Kenya church to respond to the immediate needs–that’s the food and nutrition. But also, our long-term plan is to be able to have the churches that are normally very strong in Nairobi to actually link with the churches in some of these remote areas where we have programs.”