Ethiopian Famine
The current famine in Ethiopia and the surrounding countries in Africa is an issue not much discussed in the media. But it is increasingly becoming worse; and although this famine is not as "bad" as the famine of 1984, during which pop stars gathered to raise $250 million dollars for the relief effort, it still deserves recognition and relief despite the Ethiopian government's desire to keep it under wraps.Their government insists that, "In the Ethiopian context, there is no hunger, no famine… It is baseless [to claim famine], it is contrary to the situation on the ground. It is not evidence-based. The government is taking action to mitigate the problems.” (EthiopianReview.com) And while other countries experiencing drought and famine will allow charities to distribute food, Ethiopia's government "insists that the bulk of food aid must pass through its hands." (Independent.co.uk)
While normally I would of course still be motivated to write about this issue, I also have other reasons for taking a particular interest in Ethiopia's problem. Two years ago in September, I drove with my family to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. It was not to take a flight to anywhere, but rather to receive someone off a flight from Ethiopia. On that day, we picked up my sister, who was 9 months at the time. She was abandoned by her mother in Ethiopia and found by a woman who brought her to an orphanage run by Adoption Advocates International. We adopted her and she has since become a part of our family.
But I can't help but wonder. What if she had never been found? Or what if her mother had kept her and she too, was experiencing this famine first hand? What if she was the little child who weighed 20 pounds at 4 years old?
It's not just the famine or drought or the growing problem Ethiopia is having even getting food into the country…it's the fact that there are people starving at all. I don't keep up with politics regularly. And I know it's not as easy as just giving food to people who need it, especially not when you're dealing with foreign governments. But if it weren't for the efforts of the clinics placed in Ethiopia after the 1984 famine in which 1 million Ethiopians died, there would be a repeat of that disaster.
While experts state that although there will probably be no repeat of 1985, the people are still going hungry, having to sell their livestock (their livelihood) in order to feed their children.
One man walked 3 hours to the feeding clinic, with his 4 year old son strapped to his back. Another grandmother walked her grandson to the clinic from their home, an hour away. These people know that selling their livestock for a few dollars, (often malnourished and bare-bones themselves) will only put off the day they run out of food.
Plumpy'nut, a nutritional paste, is given to children who are malnourished by the feeding clinic supported by Save the Children USA.
USAToday.com says, "Ethiopia, perennially one of the world's hungriest nations, now faces what Oxfam, one of dozens of international aid organizations responding to the crisis, calls "a toxic cocktail."
Its ingredients: drought that in some places killed the entire spring crop; global inflation that has doubled the price of food; armed rebellion in the Somali region that has disrupted food delivery; and assorted plagues, from insects to hailstones.
Unlike 1985, when images of a famine that killed 1 million Ethiopians shocked the West […] this year aid workers say there probably will be no mass starvation. An expensive, elaborate social welfare apparatus, erected largely by the world's rich nations to avert another 1985, will not permit it.
Those good intentions, however, have helped produce another problem: A nation that has long seen itself as the most independent in Africa faces an ever-growing dependence on food aid from countries who now must deal with increasing food problems of their own.
At least 14 million Ethiopians — 18% of the nation — need food aid (much of it from the USA) or cash assistance, according to government figures and aid agency estimates.
Since 1985 the population has doubled to almost 80 million, and per-capita farm production has declined. Meanwhile, the global cost of raising and moving food keeps rising.
It all makes Ethiopia's hunger "a ticking time bomb," says Peter Walker, a Tufts University famine specialist."
I ask nothing more then that you spread the word- do what love would do and consider donating to Save the Children USA, the organization that supports the feeding clinic in Ethiopia.
