Providing Aid to Somali Refugees in Ethiopia
As a result of a severe drought that is affecting the entire Eastern Africa region, a famine is occurring in several regions in the Horn of Africa. Considered to be the worst drought in 60 years, a severe food crisis across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya has threatened the lives of more than 12 million people. As a result, a large number of refugees from southern Somalia have fled to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.
“Between Ethiopia and Kenya we’re receiving about 3,000 new refugees a day,” said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is now four times its capacity and the Dolla Ado camp in southern Ethiopia is also close to capacity.1
The situation in Ethiopia is desperate and without massive humanitarian intervention it is going to get much worse. Sources say that this crisis could continue to December.
Believing that Global Aid Network (GAiN) has been called to demonstrate God’s love to hurting people around the world, we are responding to the impending famine disaster. Through local partners on the ground as well as the local Ethiopian church, we are targeting southern Ethiopia, home of thousands of refugees fleeing from the famine crisis in Somalia.
Your gift today would demonstrate God’s love in a practical way. Due to the urgency of the situation, we do not have time to put together a container and ship it. Therefore, we need to act now and purchase emergency food and water rations immediately. All distribution will be conducted through our well-established local partners.
It only takes $106 to feed a family of seven for a week with highly nutritious food packages containing sorghum flour, chickpeas and lentils. That is only $2.25 per day, per person. Will you please help these hurting families? $215 would help rescue two or more families, and a gift of $1,500 or more would literally save hundreds from starvation.
The Government of Canada has agreed to match the donations of individual Canadians from July 6 until September 16, 2011. These funds will be placed in a relief fund for East Africa that will be administered by the Government and will support humanitarian efforts in the region. As a result, your donation can have twice the impact.
Time is of the essence as each day brings death upon the heels of malnutrition, and disease that permeate the camps. Can you give a most generous gift today to reach out to the desperate people in ETHOPIA? Know that anything you send will help save lives.
1 http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/20/somalia.famine.explainer/
