We don’t want to see images of children dying from hunger in the news
(Simple ways you can help the poor)
It was too late for 260,000 people across Africa who got caught and died of hunger in an extreme drought of 2010/11 when international community woke up and sent humanitarian aid to the affected areas.
While the world is celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other traditional holidays, while our news outlets are focused on Middle East and refugee crisis, while many are preoccupied with a newly elected US President, let’s not forget about many regions in the world that are in dire situations and whose voices are not heard. Let’s talk about the parts of Horn of Africa, where over 37million people are without food and the situation is such that if we don’t act now, the enormity of the tragedy, similar to the one we saw at the beginning of the decade, will be repeated.
“By the time you get headline media coverage, things are extremely bad and way too many people have suffered more than they needed to.” Rebecca Sutton, Oxfam’s global El Niño campaign manager
Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have declared national emergencies or alerts due to drought conditions. According to USAID, the food stock in these countries will be consumed before the harvest of 2017. Just think about it, during the drought a lack of food is only one of many issues, a lack of water becomes a reason for outbreaks of very infectious diseases, such as cholera and typhoid.
Dying children will be images that would shock you yet again if action is not taken. Let’s not allow it to happen.
While aid organizations are ramping up their efforts, other African countries that are not affected by a drought in such an extreme way, are desperately trying to take care of the needs of the poor. That’s where your efforts become all-important. To practice “smart philanthropy” and to provide help in a way it would really make a difference, purchase goods from local retailers for organizations that do the work on the ground.
Gooddler provides you with an easy way to help. Go to the wishlist http://www.gooddler.com/Wishlist/10061 to purchase goods for Healthcare Rescue Centre that serves kids in rural areas in Kenya.
This NGO was founded by a group of young healthcare professionals who felt that there was need to address health issues affecting the marginalized community especially in the rural areas and slums. While the government spends millions of shillings each year, there is still never enough to reach all citizens with quality healthcare, thus need to have affordable, accessible and quality healthcare.
