About USAID Our Work Locations Policy Press Business Careers Stripes Graphic USAID Home
United States Agency for International Development Africa Food Crisis USAID
Home »
FACT SHEETS
Ethiopia - Drought Fact Sheet #17
Eritrea - Drought Fact Sheet #4
Q & As on U.S. Food Aid Donations Containing Bio-Engineered Crops
SITUATION REPORTS
Uganda - Complex Emergency Situation Report
Southern Africa - Complex Food Security Crisis - Report #9

Situation Reports

 Click here to visit the USAID Administrator visits Ethiopia photo Gallery
Situation Reports

Get Acrobat Reader...

Administrator Natsios Visits Ethiopia (January, 2003)

These photos chronicle USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios's visit to Ethiopia from Thursday, January 16th until Monday, January 20th. During the 4-day visit, Natsios toured drought affected areas, met with Ethiopians affected by the drought and with government officials and visited a number of development programs and initiatives funded by the U.S. government. In addition, Natsios and USAID's Assistant Administrator for Africa, Constance Berry Newman, attended the Economic Conference for Africa's (ECA) Big Table meeting.

The long-term goal of USAID assistance to Ethiopia is to reduce chronic food insecurity. To reach that goal, USAID/Ethiopia's strategy supports activities in six areas: 1) increasing production and productivity of rural households; 2) improving family health; 3) improving primary education systems; 4) strengthening civil society and governance; 5) mitigating the effects of disasters; and 6) improving the livelihoods for pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in southern Ethiopia.

For more information on USAID's programs in Ethiopia, please click here.

Visit the USAID Africa Photo Gallery

Families gathered round an elementary school in Asbe Teferi, West Hararge to await the visit of U.S. AID Administrator Andrew Natsios, U.S. Ambassador Aurelia Brazeal and USAID Acting Mission Director Karen Freeman.  More than 500 children go to school each day in the small classrooms. Administrator Natsios shakes hands with village elders, including the village chief, at a supplementary food distribution site in Halidege run by GOAL. The elders, including the chief, thanked him for the generous support. click on a photo to view a larger size and a photo summary
Families wait for food aid at a CARE site in West Hararge. More than 11.3 million people in Ethiopia are in need of food aid; another 2.9 million require close monitoring. The U.S. contribution provides food for an estimated 3.3 million people or 30 percent of the food assistance needs in Ethiopia.
USAIDs work is visible at this GOAL supplementary food distribution site. Since July 2002, the US Government has pledged 508,000 metric tons of food to the people of Ethiopia.
Middle school students welcome Administrator Natsios, US Ambassador Brazeal and USAID Acting Mission Director Karen Freeman to their school by singing “welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to our school. ” They later presented the delegation with handmade items, including carved spoons and combs. At the GOAL supplementary food distribution site where U.S. government-funded food is distributed, a woman prepares to carry her distribution back to the village in a piece of cloth.  At this site, corn soy blend, sugar and cooking oil are distributed after recipients receive instructions on how to best prepare them.
Children at this school in Asbe Teferi were crammed into several tiny classrooms. USAID provides school notebooks some of which were distributed during the visit by Administrator Natsios. These villagers, about 1 1/2 hours drive outside of Addis in the Arsi zone, have been ill-affected by drought conditions.  This area used to be one of the breadbasket zones of the country.  Due to poor rainfall and declining production, acute food shortages have occurred.  USAID Administrator Natsios and World Food Program Director, James Morris, visited this site to talk with villagers about their food needs. USAID is supplying food aid to WFP to distribute monthly at this location.
USAID Administrator Natsios is welcomed to the Kolba Farmers Cooperative, a 900-member strong organization which supplies fertilizer and seed to its members and markets their produce, including coffee and grains. Due to the cooperative efforts, supported by USAID, income for the farmers has more than tripled. Three young school girls were intrigued by the visit of the U.S. officials, particularly when U.S. Ambassador Brazeal introduced herself - after asking them to guess whether she or Administrator Natsios was the Ambassador.
At an HIV/AIDS awareness rally in Addis, middle school students sing and role play.  The project is administered by Save the Children UK, supported by funding from USAID.  New USAID support will allow the program to expand into additional schools, reaching a greater number of students. Two young boys play in the dry dust while waiting for their families to get food aid at a food supplementary food  distribution site.
Go to the Gallery  go to the photo gallery  
  

--
Star