Prayer won’t help, but Save the Children will.
With all of the political and economic dithering going on in America, it’s hard to hear the cries of those who are truly suffering around the world.
More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa require food assistance due to the region’s worst drought in half a century, the United Nations says.
The UN says that famine exists in two regions of southern Somalia, southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle. Across the country, nearly half of the Somali population — 3.7 million people — are now in crisis, of whom an estimated 2.8 million people are in the south.
The drought and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5, according to U.S. estimates, the first time such a precise death toll has been released related to the Horn of Africa crisis.
The United Nation has said previously that tens of thousands of people have died in the drought, the worst in Somalia in 60 years. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children will rise.
There are ways to help if we take a second to forget about our worries and see how insignificant some of our problems are compared to real hardships around the world. These people don’t care what political party you belong to, or what god you pray to, they just need real, tangible relief, like food, water, and shelter.
Save the Children is a wonderful way to make a small difference. It’s as easy as texting…
Save the Children You can donate online or text SURVIVE to 20222 to donate $10 (Standard message rates apply). Legal disclosure: www.savethechildren.org/legaldisclosure
A few more ways to make a difference:
Doctors Without Borders
In Dadaab, Kenya, Doctors Without Borders says it is treating more than 2,400 children in its ambulatory therapeutic feeding program and 130 children in its inpatient therapeutic feeding center. An additional 5,047 children with moderate acute malnutrition are enrolled in a supplementary feeding program. There are now around 10,000 people in the organization’s feeding program in the Dadaab camp.
Donate here or by calling 1-888-392-0392.
UNICEF
UNICEF, the UN’s children’s organization, and its partners need more money to aid children in the Horn of Africa in the coming months. Immediate measures include child immunization campaigns and water and sanitation services to ward off disease.
Text FOOD to UNICEF (864233) to donate $10, enough to feed a child for 10 days or provide 321 sachets of nutrient powder to boost infant survival and development, the aid group says.
Links to lists of charities focusing on the famine in the Horn of Africa, among other crisis around the world:
ABC News – http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-famine/story?id=14088327
