Our eClub D9510online, Australia has been collecting donations and have forwarded funds directly to Valerie. In an email she replied that “these funds will help to purchase emergency food and milk for the children in the villages she is travelling to in the next few days”, she is very, very overwhelmed with the support we have been able to provide. A little bit of good news is that the Ethiopian Government troops have moved into the local towns and blocked the Tigrayan forces and moving them further north away from the AFAR region.

The following is a short update from Valerie Browning:

Dear all again,

this is the latest info – as of the last 3 days, the PM is actually ordering the army and there have been advances.

If this means TPLF will be out of Afar Region, this is tenuous since the border is very long and the hills very porous for such activities. Afar displaced will not be secure to go home for sometime. Then the recovery is such a long road ahead.

APDA is working hard to assist any other NGOs to take assistance in and also looking at how to balance between those in the community who have some ability to feed their household and those who are destitute – trying to stimulate markets and so on.

As winter sets in for these people, sincerely need to work harder to battle the shelter issues – Afar traditional mats above anything are wanted and needed to build an Afar nomadic house again. with many thanks to each of you

Valerie

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-27/ethiopia-prime-minister-ahmed-abiy-tigray-war-battlefront/100655654