Weather Security Insurance is being provided to Ethiopian farmers by Oxfam America. This will allow farmers to feed their families even when the rain does not fall in Africa. Before this insurance was available, when there was drought, thousands of people went hungry and died due to famine. Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries and the risk to offer insurance has always been too great. However Oxfam and Swiss Re have offered drought insurance to over 200 households. This has expanded from just one village last month, to now 5 this month due to the generous Rockefeller grant of $565,000. Their goal is to not just treat the symptoms of hunger but to end the cause, so along with the insurance, they are helping to put in irrigation systems so that there can still be crops in a drought. hopefully these combined actions can help these farmers stay out of poverty and help their communities to prosperity.
-Sara Frodge
Source: The Boston Globe
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