Abigail Lucas
9/25/09
3:13
There continues to be more than twenty three million people starving across East Africa. Paul Lomas, Oxfam’s East Arica director said “This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in East Africa for over ten years. Failed and unpredictable rains are ever more regular across East Africa”. The global charity Oxfam International has launched a 9.5 million British pound (approximately 15.2 million U.S dollars) emergency appeal to reach seven hundred fifty thousand people in need of food assistance. People are having to survive on about two liters of water a day in some places and are in desperate need of help. The number of malnourished people in places such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Uganda are now above emergency levels. According to Oxfam about 3.8 million Kenyans, which is a tenth of the population is in need of emergency aid. Food prices are one hundred and eighty percent above average, but in a population where there are so many farmers many people’s key source of income are dying. In Ethiopia 13.7 million people are at risk of severe hunger and in Somalia one in six children are malnourished.
It is kind of encouraging to see the different organizations from around the world that are trying to help provide aid and food to the people of East Africa. However many of these organizations are limited in how much they are able to help. In previous articles about this drought some organizations have had to cut back on how much they are able to provide because of funding situations and in even in this article it mentions how the World Food Program and the government of Uganda are short with the funds that they need to provide more relief for these starving people.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/25/content_12111974.htm
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