The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the lead agency fighting hunger, requires voluntary donations for its aid missions. Without these contributions they cannot feed the hungry in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and many other countries in need.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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There is alarming news coming from Somalia. The East African nation, which just three years ago suffered a famine, is in danger of a new hunger emergency.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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The Famine Early Warning (FEWSNET) system is sounding the alarm in Somalia.
Read more at Examiner.
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Displaced children in Somaliland are deprived of basic rights such as access to clean water, food, health services and education. Photo: NRC/Astrid Sehl
The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling on the world to increase aid for Somali children displaced by conflict and famine.
Last summer the world was stunned with tens of thousands of Somali children starving to death. A severe drought had struck Somalia and East Africa, causing massive food shortages. Conflict within Somalia made the situation far worse by preventing aid from reaching the needy.
Thousands of children and their families were able to flee the worst hunger and conflict areas. Many of these “children of famine” found refuge in camps in Dadaab, Kenya.
A year later their plight in the refugee camps is largely silent to the world. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) wants to change this by focusing on these children’s needs. They have a chance to recover if the world gives them enough help.
Somali refugees need the basics of food, water, shelter. They also need education to learn and develop the skills needed to get out of these camps and build a life. NRC issued a report in May about the lack of educational resources at the Dadaab camps.
Dadaab does not have enough school facilities and teachers. There are 221,000 school age children in the refugee camps but only 57,000 are enrolled in school. Funding is needed to build up the schools.
The NRC Regional Director Hassan Khaire says, “The universal right to education applies also for refugee children in Dadaab, but only in theory. The international community has to step up and demonstrate the importance of investing in the development and future of young Somali refugees.”
NRC is partnering with other organizations on developing accelerated learning programs to help children “catch up” and get their education back on track.
For those who are already enrolled in school at Dadaab, there is the problem of staying the course. The NRC report says, “The number of students who actually complete school is much lower, as the drop out rates are very high especially for girls.” The challenge is getting kids into school in East Africa and then keeping them there to finish their education.
School feeding programs run by the UN World Food Programme and other groups are vital especially with malnutrition being such a threat to the refugees.
Astrid Sehl, an NRC officer, recently took some time to answer a few questions on how the world can help the children of the East Africa famine.
What is being done to increase the number of schools and teachers in the Daddab refugee camp?
UN and non-governmental organizations are doing what they can to build more schools and educate more teachers in Dadaab – e.g. the joint Education strategy (Accelerated learning program). However, as always, funding when it comes to crises and education, is very limited, and a lot more should be done!
Could take home rations be added to any existing school feeding in order to reduce the dropout rate?
Yes, take home rations is a good idea. For the time being, we provide school feeding and we are investigating funding opportunities for take-home rations (or introducing school gardens, where the kids are taught how to grow vegetables and they can bring the knowledge and produce home).
For children displaced inside Somalia has NRC been able to reach them with educational materials?
Yes, we have large educational programs for internally displaced persons across Somalia – in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central. So we’re supporting thousands of internally displaced children and youth with education, skills training, we train teachers and build schools – but again – more efforts are required to meet children’s right to education.
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It is critical that the U.S. and international community ensure that child feeding programs are provided during this time of great drought and conflict throughout East Africa (WFP photo)
Lack of rainfall is placing Ethiopia at risk of a severe hunger crisis in the coming months. This development comes on the heels of last year’s massive drought which struck East Africa.
What is called the “Belg” rains in parts of Ethiopia were late in arriving this year. Crops have not been able to get planted in time.
A report from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) says in Amhara region “the area covered with Belg crops so far is less than 10 percent of the planned area….In view of the very late arrival of the rains and the associated limited planting so far, there is high probability for near total failure of Belg production in most Belg dependent areas of the country, especially those in Tigray, Amhara, and central and eastern Oromia regions.”
Coinciding with crop failures in these areas is an increase in food prices. A report from the U.S. Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET) says, “Staple food prices have started rising again in many parts of the country, possibly due to the late start of the Belg. Prices typically do not start to seasonally rise until May.”
Ethiopia, which is also hosting refugees who fled the famine in Somalia, will need food assistance in the coming months. The school feeding program becomes urgent because this not only feeds hungry children but keeps them in school.
The World Food Programme (WFP) helps provide school meals in Ethiopia. WFP just earned a grant of 26 million dollars for Ethiopia from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) McGovern-Dole school meals program. However, these supplies can take as much as 6 months to arrive.
So WFP needs help covering the interim period until the McGovern-Dole “cavalry” gets there. With the drought and high food prices taking hold, the USDA and WFP will be working to ensure McGovern-Dole supplies arrive as soon as possible, and finding key interim sources of funding. WFP relies entirely on voluntary donations whether from the public or governments.
Judith Schuler, WFP information officer in Ethiopia, provides us an update on where WFP’s school meals program currently stands.
WFP is reaching 689,000 students currently. Do you hope to expand the program?
Currently WFP’s “Food-for-Education” programme is operational in 1186 schools in 6 regions. Because of resource constraints, there is no plan to expand school meal programme at the moment.
What is the funding shortage that you are currently facing?
The funding requirement for 2012 is US$ 28.5 million and the shortfall for 2012 is about US$ 17.4 million.
Is the school feeding a lunch/breakfast ration? Is there a take home ration aspect?
The school meal is provided either as a breakfast or a mid morning snack. But in schools where there are two shifts , the morning shift students receive the meal mid morning and the afternoon shift students receive the meal at mid-day before they start classes in the afternoon. A take home ration of vegetable oil is provided to girls to encourage attendance in the pastoralist areas of the country and where girls attendance is lower due to economic and cultural reasons. Currently 127,000 girls in pastoral areas are benefitting from the programme.
What percentage of the school feeding is for refugees and what is for the population of Ethiopia?
The School Meal programme for refugees is a separate programme and is run as part of the Refugee Operation. Currently, 35,000 refugee children in all refugee camps benefit from the programme. The regular School Meal programme targets 3 percent of the primary school children in the country.
Article first published as School Feeding Vital to Ethiopia As Drought Revisits Region on Blogcritics.
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Scene from a refugee camp in Ethiopia where Somalis fled to when food supplies ran out in their homeland. What future do these children face? (WFP/Natasha Scripture)
Imagine if you were a child living in the Gebo and Bay regions of Somalia last summer. Instead of having the opportunity to go to school in the fall you were trapped in a massive drought zone. With food supplies low your family would be forced to flee the region as a matter of survival.
Starting in the summer of 2011 streams of hungry Somalis fled Gebo, Bay and other crisis areas. Some parts of Southern Somalia were declared in famine as starvation had set in. The drought, combined with conflict, placed over 13 million people were put at risk of starvation in Somalia and other countries in East Africa.
Thousands of residents of Gebo and Bay are now in the Kobe and Hilaweyn refugee camps in Ethiopia and depending on relief from aid agencies. Save the Children is helping kids within these camps by providing emergency education and school meals. The meal will be a porridge, made of a corn-soy blend, served as a breakfast at school.
In addition Save the Children wants to provide school meals to children in the Melkadida and Bokolmayo camps, also in Ethiopia.
Save the Children hopes to provide meals to 8,037 children who are currently receiving emergency education in these four refugee camps. And they want to expand the program to reach more children. There are 43,966 school age children in the four camps.
Save the Children is also working on the construction of schools to expand educational opportunities.
The school meal program, with supplies from the UN World Food Programme, will improve child nutrition. It’s also expected to improve enrollment and enhance the teaching and learning process.
Funding though is critical. Save the Children says resources for the program is expected to run out later this year. That is where the public can help by supporting Save the Children’s East Africa appeal.
Article first published as Save the Children Starts School Meals for Somali Refugees on Blogcritics.
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The UN World Food Programme and CARE team up to provide food to refugees who have fled Somalia (WFP/Mariko Hall). Both of these agencies are accepting donations for East Africa.
President Obama issued a statement last week thanking Americans who had donated to relief efforts in the Horn of Africa this year. He also cautioned that much more needs to be done to overcome the humanitarian tragedy of 2011.
Obama said, “As we enter the season of giving and renewal, more than 13.3 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance amid the worst drought the region has seen in 60 years. The heartbreaking accounts of lives lost and of those struggling to survive remind us of our common humanity and the need to reach out to people in need.”
The U.S. has a great tradition of leading the fight against famine wherever it occurs. In 1946, just a year after World War II ended, the threat of massive famine loomed over the globe as food supplies were running low. In this case, the paths of the U.S., Somalia, and Ethiopia crossed briefly.
Herbert Hoover, who was appointed food ambassador during this crisis, first reviewed the food supply of as many nations as possible. In this report were listed Somaliland and Ethiopia. Hoover writes “of self-sufficient nations in Africa, we classified Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Somaliland, with a total population perhaps of 35,000,000 people.”
There were no reports of drought that year in East Africa. Of course, any country not in food deficit at that time was a huge relief with the impending worldwide famine. It was going to be enough of a challenge to meet the food needs of the war-devastated countries.
Whether or not there is a drought is all about luck. In 1946 there was luckily none in East Africa. This year a different story–a huge drought.
What does not depend on luck though is how well nations are prepared to deal with drought. Many actions can be taken by the international community to help build up the resilience of farmers in developing countries so that when drought does hit, it is not catastrophic. Food reserves can also be in place to prevent a year of setbacks from drought and keep a country moving toward food security.
So, this is one of the lessons of this year. Invest in farmers today to avoid the famine of tomorrow.
Article first published as Remembering the Horn of Africa this Holiday Season on Blogcritics.
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CARE Packages were sent to the hungry after World War II and this continued even during the Korean War and the early years of the Cold War struggle. In this photo, "Children of a refugee family from East Germany crowd close to get a better view of the foods in the CARE Package they received soon after they arrived in West Berlin." (photo courtesy CARE)
If you went shopping after World War II, you could walk into a store and make a life-saving purchase. Even if you were at home, you could do the same great deed simply through mail order. What was this mystery item people bought by the thousands after the war?
These were CARE packages to send to hungry people in countries lying in ruin. General Lucius Clay, commander of the American military government in Germany, made appeals to the public to send these packages. So did many others from all walks of life. This is how America reacted to the plight of those suffering overseas.
General Clay wrote, “when a CARE package arrived the consumer knew it was aid from America and that even the bitterness of war had not destroyed our compassion for suffering.”
You had several options when buying a CARE package. There were general rations which you could send to a family, or you could have these sent to an orphanage or hospital. Another option was to buy a CARE package specially designed for infants, one with baby food.
Well, today that CARE package for infants would come in the form of plumpy’nut, the miracle food recently profiled on the NBC Nightly News. This is a life-saving food for small children.
Plumpy’nut is peanut paste that comes wrapped in a small package, like many foods you find in grocery stores; except plumpy’nut is food specially designed to provide quick nutrients to severely malnourished children. It is widely used in areas struck by conflict, natural disasters, or extreme poverty. Plumpy’nut is easy to distribute because it does not require special preparation and storage.
In East Africa, where drought has caused massive food shortages, plumpy’nut is being distributed to children. It is saving their lives. Infants need proper nutrition in what is called the critical first 1,000 days. Without the nutrients, they will suffer lasting physical or mental damage.
Thousands of children have already starved to death in East Africa because of the food shortages, but those that get plumpy’nut can be saved.
Mindy Mizell of World Vision says, “One mom told me how she arrived in Puntland, Somalia with a severely malnourished toddler who wouldn’t play, stand, or smile…he took the plumpy’nut for a few weeks and was just fine! He looks great.”
A full supply of plumpy’nut is needed in East Africa to prevent more deaths.
Edesia, a Providence-based producer of plumpy’nut, has been running its factory 21 hours a day producing the life-saving food. Navyn Salem, Edesia’s director, said shipments are leaving almost every day to head to the East Africa famine zone. The plant was also fortunate to keep running through Hurricane Irene which tore through Providence and many other parts of the East Coast in August. Salem remarked, “we were very fortunate to be in a spot that was spared, phew!!”
Plumpy’nut production has to keep running at Edesia and other factories that produce the miracle food. But funding is always an issue, as aid agencies continually face this challenge. Not enough resources are committed by the international community toward fighting child hunger. The UN World Food Programme and other organizations are well short of funding to meet the demand.
Plumpy’nut is needed in many more areas of the globe: Afghanistan, Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, and Haiti, just to name a few. All of these countries have high rates of child malnutrition, and plumpy’nut and its variations are desperately needed.
After World War II, stores like the H. & S. Pogue Company of Cincinnati even had displays of CARE packages. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that upon Pogue’s grand opening of their display in 1947, Captain Victor Heintz made the first purchase. Heintz was a World War I veteran who served on the front lines in France. Years later, he was again coming to the aid of France in the form of a CARE package.
Another Cincinnati resident, Siegfried Deutsch, got started well before Pogue’s CARE outlet opened. Deutsch bought at least 35 CARE packages. The Enquirer said number 35 went to a poverty-stricken mother and her young daughter in Vienna, Austria, Deutsch’s homeland.
Retail stores today could offer an outlet for people to buy CARE plumpy packages for starving infants overseas. As the CARE package made such a difference saving lives, winning the peace, and rebuilding Europe after World War II, plumpy packages can do the same today.
Article first published as Plumpy’nut: A Modern-Day CARE Package on Blogcritics Magazine.
Filed under global hunger, History
Add plumpy'nut for starving children overseas to this year's Halloween celebration (photo courtesy usa.gov)
There is something special that could be added to this year’s Halloween festivities. In addition to treats, why not have plumpy’nut added to each bag of candy?
What is plumpy’nut? Essentially it is a precious treat for children in developing countries because it can save their lives. The plumpy’nut family of ready-to-eat foods is a peanut paste used to treat dangerous levels of malnutrition in children ages 0-5.
Without proper nutrients in these early years, severe physical and mental damage can take hold. Plumpy’nut can nourish these small children and change their lives forever. Right now small infant children in Somalia, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan and other countries are in desperate need of this food. There is extremely low funding for child feeding programs globally.
This is where Halloween comes in. If trick or treaters across America asked for some plumpy’nut with every doorbell ring, this food could be donated and save millions of lives around the world.
Since plumpy’nut is not something sold in stores, this particular treat would have to be in the form of a dollar. If you donated that dollar to the non-profit organization Edesia, which produces the life-saving food, it could then be channeled right into the production of plumpy’nut for starving children. Or you could contact the World Food Programme, Save the Children, Action Against Hunger or UNICEF who place the plumpy’nut orders with Edesia and other producers.
This plumpy’nut aspect of Halloween is something parents could set up in their neighborhoods. UNICEF has been running trick or treat campaigns since after World War II. You could also set up a plumpy’nut Halloween as part of their program.
So let this year’s Halloween have the classic themes of candy, full moon, Dracula, the Wolfman and others…but let’s welcome a new addition…..plumpy’nut. Treats for all. A Halloween for the ages.
Learn more about plumpy’nut from Rhode Island based Edesia.
Article first published as Halloween: Trick or Treat or Plumpy’nut on Blogcritics.
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Last month I published an interview with Kate O’Malley of Irish Americans Support Somalia. The group is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help save lives in East Africa. Here are some updates as posted on their facebook page. The video below highlights a donation made by several organizations to Edesia, which is producing plumpy’nut for aid agencies to distribute in East Africa.
Here is the update from Irish Americans Support Somalia:
“In memory of Ray McKenna, and in the spirit of “Honoring our History by Helping Famine Victims Today”, Edesia received a total of $1250.00 in donations on October 9, 2011 from the following organizations: Rhode Island Police Officers Emerald Society, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Pawtucket, Providence St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, Ancient Order of Hibernians – State Board and Newport Chapter, and the RI Irish Famine Memorial Committee. Thank you!
Did you know that our online reach now extends to supporters from 7 countries and 9 U.S. states? And that’s just who we know about! With your help we can build this movement which so far includes people in Australia, Japan, Haiti, Ireland, South Africa, British Columbia, and OH, NC, VA, CO, CA, FL, RI, CT, and MA in the USA. Irish or not, we are concerned parents, newspaper editors, committed high school and college students, nationally renowned authors, university professors, business owners, musicians, community activists, historians, and most importantly we are global citizens who can make a difference.
Why now? Why us? Unicef reports that a child is dying every 6 minutes in Somalia and that 750,000 people are presently at risk. We all have something to contribute. Please offer your ideas, your talents, your time, your resources, your influence, your word of mouth, your compassion. In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Visit Irish Americans Support of Somalia at Facebook and WordPress.
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Author William Lambers 