At Tearfund, we have seen our partners around the world step up and respond to crisis after crisis during 2020. But in a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, Tearfund's News Editor, Andrew Horton, rounds up some important events that didn’t get much time in the news.
Locusts invaded
Like scenes from the Old Testament, crop-eating locusts descended en masse in parts of East Africa, India, Pakistan and the Middle East.
This year, Ethiopia and Somalia had their biggest invasion of the insects in 25 years, and for Kenya and Uganda, it was the worst in 70 years. Locusts devoured hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops in areas where many people rely on farming for both food and income.
In Ethiopia, Tearfund is partnering with the Friendship Support Association (FSA) in Afar, one of the regions heavily affected by the insects. Thanks to funding from the Scottish Government, emergency cash grants were given out to help people buy food and other essentials, and parents could afford school fees for their children.