One of the young clients where I work was in the office earlier tonight when he noticed a link to an article up on the Yahoo! News homepage. It was about a man from Somalia and the hardships he faced while fleeing from famine, so I clicked it and let him read a little bit about it. (He’s from the general area, though not Somalia specifically.) Then it got me looking for things on my own later and I found this:
Yahoo! News spoke to a reporter who is in Somalia and has seen first-hand what it’s like in the refugee camps of the war-torn and famished country.
“There was no food, no help. There are kids dying left and right—I’m not exaggerating. They buried 12 on the day I visited,” said Jason Straziuso, a reporter for the Associated Press.
“The most touching thing so far has been when this small child waved at me yesterday. I stuck my head in her tent and she was lying, motionless, flies flying everywhere and she sort of stuck her head up and waved at me,” he said. “That put a lump in my throat because I don’t know that she’s going to get better, in fact I think she has a good chance of not getting better.”
African Union forces have launched an offensive to keep aid agencies safe as they bring food and supplies to the thousands of refugees in Mogadishu.
We can’t donate to all the awful tragedies around the world, but this strikes me as one of those instances where because it isn’t a sudden event like a tsunami or an Earthquake, it can easily be overlooked. That’s why I’ve used this link to donate a little money.
Feel free to do the same, if you wish.
Filed under: News | Tagged: East Africa, Famine, Horn of Africa, Kenya, Somalia |
For the Sake of Science 
It’s a better practice, from an economic point of view, to pick one charity and make a “big” donation rather than donate a little to several.
I was a little surprised to learn that but, what can you do?
I think you’re dead-on that unpopular tragedies deserve help too, but I urge people to carefully review the charities they give to.
http://www.givewell.org/international/disaster-relief/International-Medical-Corps
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=8158
The charity Michael has chosen here scores highly. Just as its important not to overlook what disasters need donations, its important to pick the charities that will use your donation the most effectively. You don’t want to have all your money go towards sorting and transporting rotting used shoes to an area that already had plenty of footwear.
http://aidwatchers.com/2010/01/nobody-wants-your-old-shoes-how-not-to-help-in-haiti/