Share Our Strength Responds to Crisis in Somalia
Posted by Debbie Shore on Friday, August 12, 2011
As hard as it is to watch the reports from Somalia where thousands are walking hundreds of miles across the border to Kenya for food and water, it’s harder to imagine doing nothing about it. This week Share Our Strength was proud to make an emergency grant in the amount of $35,000 to Action Against Hunger, one of the few organizations on the ground in Somalia getting food, water and medical treatment to those suffering from war and famine.
I watched Anderson Cooper last night on CNN as he was reporting from Dadaab, Kenya, one of the largest feeding camps. Clearly moved by the crisis and frustrated at his own colleagues in the media, he practically shouted out “this story should be on every channel and paper in America, why isn’t it?”
Most of the emergency aid efforts are taking place in Kenya where the largest feeding sites have been established but they are now overflowing and as many as 10 million people are at risk of dying from starvation. 1,500 people arrive each day in Dadaab. One family I saw last night on CNN walked 30 days with their 5 children to get there. Another father sat by his one-year old son who had died from starvation two hours after arriving in the camp. He had lost two other young children in Somalia and made the trek heartbroken, distraught and hungry to try and save his only child – but it was too late.
As I write to you this morning, my sister-in-law Rosemary sends me a video of my daughter Sofie having breakfast in Maine where she has been all week. In front of her is a bowl of cereal, fresh fruit, milk and a glass of orange juice – an abundance. It’s hard to get your head around this type of disparity and I’m feeling grateful for all that I have. And I’m grateful that Share Our Strength is in position to respond as we have so often in times of crisis here at home and around the world.
Video footage from Somalia:
Click here to donate directly to Action Against Hunger, or you are also welcome to contribute through Share Our Strength and 100% of donations designated for this crisis will be granted to organizations responding in East Africa.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CRISIS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
As the humanitarian crisis gripping the Greater Horn of Africa intensifies across the region, an estimated 12 million people are faced with food shortages, mass livestock losses, and protracted drought-like conditions. Somalia has been particularly hard-hit, with over half of its population grappling with severe drought and extreme food shortages, conditions that have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths while displacing hundreds of thousands from their homes in search of food and water. Overall, an estimated 3.7 million people are in need of immediate emergency humanitarian assistance in Somalia.
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER IN SOMALIA
With a long-standing operational presence in Somalia—Action Against Hunger | ACF International has worked in the country since 1992, when a major famine claimed some 350,000 lives—their teams were prepositioned to launch immediate emergency activities as the current crisis became acute.
Action Against Hunger is currently responding in two of Somalia’s most affected regions, Bakool and Benadir, where their programs to date have focused on (1) the provision of therapeutic treatment and medical care for acutely malnourished children, (2) general nutritional support for children under five years of age, and (3) emergency access to food, clean water, and improved sanitation for the most vulnerable. The organization has prioritized the provision of lifesaving therapeutic treatment for some 10,000 children –2500 in the month of July alone – diagnosed with deadly severe acute malnutrition—through a network of 16 outpatient treatment centers.
If you are interested in learning more about the work of Action Against Hunger | ACF International, click here.
August 12, 2011 | 1 comment(s) | Tags: africa, donate, drought, help, hunger, somalia
Comments
1 reader comment so far.
Debbie,
This blog is stirring -- especially since I can picture Sophie at that table.
One of the impediments to giving is in not knowing to which organizations to entrust your gift. Given the history of insufficient NGO collaboration and progress in Haiti, donors may feel disillusioned and skeptical about the impact of their gifts. How does one ascertain which humanitarian relief agency is in the lead? Which is distributing the money wisely and in a timely fashion? Which is empowering local African organizations, those that will need to lead long-term solutions to food shortages and instability?
Thank you for taking action to save humanity.
All the best,
Karen Ansara
With all the humanitarian NGOs in the Horn of Africa, how and why did Share Our Strength chose Action Against Hunger as its grant beneficiary?
Posted by Karen Ansara on August 13, 2011
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