E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSConditions in Somalia are getting worse not better. Thousands are heading for already overcrowded and under supplied camps in Mogadishu.
Thousands of people needlessly died from famine in East Africa last year because the rich nations failed to act on early warnings, two leading British aid organizations reported Wednesday.
The report from Oxfam and Save the Children said a "culture of risk aversion" by humanitarian agencies and national governments caused a sixth month delay in large-scale aid effort. The groups said many donors wanted proof of a humanitarian catastrophe before acting to prevent one.
ITN’s Rohit Kachroo saw firsthand the results of too little action. Kachroo reports from Mogadishu, Somalia, where "battlefields are disappearing only to reclaimed by a more deadly war against hunger. In the city, every patch of space is a new home for the thousands outside it."
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Brother keeps hope alive as cruise search is halted
- UK soldiers arrested after Afghan sex abuse report
- Syria's 'Big Brother' looms over a tense capital
Leave a Comment:
The sad truth is that no one really cares. Changes in the environment and dysfunctional government (if there is even a government in place) have made it impossible for people to survive in these areas yet they still have an average of seven children per family. Why? Is it a crapshoot having that many children in the hope that one or two will survive the latest famine?
People in the rest of the world have sent money and food aid to this region of the world only to have it stolen by gangs of thugs and then killing and the people who only wanted to help. I have sent money since the early 1980's and quit by the early 2000's because of giving fatigue. It never seemed to matter or help the situation there.
It will never change in this region of the world. They have no working government, they have no chance of ever changing that. The world gave up. So did I.
Don't breed 'em if you can't feed 'em.
Ever notice how the man giving the "feed starving children in Africa" ads is obese?
I wonder where that money is really going.
In October of 1958, when I was in the fourth grade, the teacher told us that UNICEF had a program called Trick or Treat for UNICEF. She passed out little tin can banks with the UNICEF logo and told us when we made our rounds on Halloween, we should hold out the cans and shout "Trick or Treat for UNICEF". All of the coins that would be collected across the nation would wind up in UNICEF's bank account and the money would be used to provide food for hungry children in East Africa. Now, 53 years later, the emaciated kids seen in these pictures are great-grandchildren of the children who were saved by the U.S. Halloween money in 1958. There are even more of them now and they are more desperate. The sad fact is that ever since the sub-Saharan countries gained their independence in the ‘50s and ‘60s, they have made little or no progress towards prosperity for their people. Most of the billions of dollars in aid has been wasted. What good does it do to save children from starvation if they are doomed to a lifetime of abject poverty and hunger? I don’t have any workable solutions to offer for East Africa’s problems. But continuing to maintain the sorry status quo and misery is cruel.
This new report highlights the vital need to act quickly to early warnings of potential crises. Too often early warnings do not trigger a timely response; too often we have to wait until the peak of a crisis to see a scaling up in interventions; too often people are speaking about lessons learnt and the need to intervene earlier to mitigate the deterioration of a situation but do not act; too often it is mentioned that spending money in preventative programmes is more cost-effective than waiting for full-scale emergency responses, however funds are still mostly allocated only when crises are at their peak.
The important lessons learnt from East Africa must be applied to the Sahel region which is experiencing a looming food crisis and especially to the most affected areas in Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, northern Nigeria and Niger. There is absolutely no excuse for not acting now to prevent millions of people falling into desperate food insecurity. The alarm on the Sahel was first raised in October and aid agencies, including Action Against Hunger, who have been present in the region since 1982, are scaling up existing programmes to offset an emergency. However, much more needs to be done and funding needs to be mobilised. The international community cannot afford, yet again, to wait for the faces of starving children to fill the TV screens before they respond. They must act now. Beyond the words there needs to be action.
Jean Michel Grand,
Executive Director at Action Against Hunger
Places like this are simply doomed to disaster. Hundreds of billions have been poured into Africa with no success - each year brings a new round of famines, starvation, unceasing civil conflict, disease, thirst and one more corrupt government after the next. We can do nothing until the people in that region take charge of their own lives and bring some stability on their own. All we have done is provide a few meals and watch the vast majority of donations channeled from one warlord to the next, from one corrupt government after the other. Children die with or without the donations - save your money they need to sort this out themself.
Ebeneezer who? I'd prefer the Sam Kinnison approach......
Exactly. I think of Sam Kinison every time I see a story about the starving in Africa.
What should have happened 30yrs ago,was that these people should have been given birth control pills so they would quit breeding like rabbits.They have no conscious on bringing children into the world as long as they satisfy their adult needs(SEX).They don"t care if the children die of starvation.They just go and get another woman pregnant.Billions have been spent on these countries on food,etc to no avail.Quit breeding like rabbits and have some responsibility.Castrate the men so they can"t breed for the next 40yrs.
The thing is, African's don't want birth control. We've tried time and time again and they just don't want it.
They don't love you, they love your money.
ARE you JESUS?IF not please write a book,just don't do it on this forum.My people left africa and evolved.We can fix 7,000,000,000 people
No one is to blame but theirselves, they keep having babies they can't feed and then they want everyone to feel sorry for them. If they want help then they need to have some form of birth control. No education no money no jobs and a government or lack of one that does not care. Money should be spent here in or own country for those who lost jobs and homes.
"Do you know what the emergency really is? You want to hear about the really big emergency? The emergency is that if you guys succeed, you'll be an embarrassment to Africa. Who wants a setup like yours? There aren't many governments on this continent that do. There aren't many governments in Europe. Colored folk who can look after themselves? It isn't viable. It upsets the world picture. Don't you know the West has to believe famine's an act of God? If they believe that, they only have to make a donation. But if they believe it's an act of bloody politics, they have to really do something, and that's too, too complicated. So what is the story? The story is you guys will fall on your own @!$%#ing swords, because you've got this crazy idea that the world will allow you to be perfect!""These guys are astounding! Running all this. And you know what? The world hates 'em for it! The world hooked into the idea of 'the helpless Africans!'"
I Leave you with the above quote and it is up to you to find out the country which the world has refused to leave it alone!
D. Gabriel
Eritreans? Etheopia?
Can't the Somali pirates organize a relief effort?
The Western world does not give when it is itself in trouble. There is no felt need to "respond", no assumed responsibility, no handout necessary. That's it. African problems belong to Africans, Arab problems belong to Arab nations. All we have is a need and desire for commerce, an economic interest at best.
Hey, "save". Which American president delivered more aid to Africa than any other?
Answer: George W. Bush
Solution: There is none. Africa is a soulless sh__thole beyond help. We can have compassion, but it's like peeing in the ocean.
save - you have no idea what you are talking about.
And no, at this point, I don't want to see one more thin dime of Amercian taxpayers' money headed over there. We have thrown billions upon billions of dollars at the problem in many African countries - and the only result is super-wealthy corrupt leaders of those countries.
Oh whatever. Bush presidencies were crimes. Bush(es) also delivered more bombs than any recently. Those guys give a buck with their left hand and take 100 with their right hand. Oh thank you!!!
People over there need watering wells and contraception, not thousands of pounds of grain dropped off every year. They are breeding faster than the land can carry their population. Or just let them die altogether, no need to puppeteer with their lives.
If you two read me correctly I was talking about the Western World, not just America. Keep eating that fat ethnocentric American bacon. Might not be around forever.
It is not that no one cares. It is just that this a continuing cycle. When you reproduce at a rate that exceeds the ability to feed yourself then it is time for some serious family planing. The trouble is RELIGION gets in the way. Time to realize that WE cannot keep bailing out the world. To keep trying the same thing and expecting different results is insanity.
Are we still talking about Africa? Sounds like you're describing the U.S.
He's definitely describing part of the US. The middle class is waiting longer (or just foregoing) to have children because they can't afford it. However, other classes just don't care, as their government checks will just increase with every new baby they pump out.
"Kachroo reports from Mogadishu, Somalia, where "battlefields are disappearing only to reclaimed by a more deadly war against hunger."
The Islamic radicals, terrorists and their cheering crowds brought this situation to intolerable levels.
Now the rich sharks of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and others should fund the humanitarian causes instead of funding extemist Islamic sects of Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques all around the world.
If we infidels get into helping them, we may be kidnapped or shot. If we pour help/monies, it will be looted bare!
Oh please. Just how much "relief" are we supposed to keep giving to African countries? Most African countries suffer from horrible, corrupt leadership that steals everything they get from their own people and an ignorant population that keeps having children they have no hope of feeding. msnbc - do you all have any idea how much "relief" the American taxpayers have already given to these hellholes and which has helped no one but the pieces of @!$%# in charge?
Yes, the West needs to rush in with massive aid every time the excessive population is starving, every time there's a war and genocide going on, every time the corrupt governments are failing to do anything.
After all, we need to be grateful for all the miracle drugs that have been found by Africans, all the technology they've invented that improve our lives, all their cultural, ethical, and philosophical contributions to the world..... Ooops.
It is sad to see such a great continent suffer because of the mismanagement of its people, but thats ok the western countries seem willing to accept the overpopulation of that continent. You have to wonder if we never sent food or medical aid to Africa would they have the overpopulation they have now? As a society that is based on a substance level we have caused a overpopulation problem, the land used to be able to sustain them, but cant anymore. But all it seems we can do is send more food aid = more population = more deaths.
We also sent them condoms, which they basically just laughed at us with and tossed aside.
When America sends food, medicene, clothing, etc. the governments in Africa take these supplies, sell them to their starving people, sell them to other countries or send the supplies to their Armies. It is a waste of time and money to give them anything. If we send doctors, nurses, engineers, or other professionals to make things better, the africans murder, kidnap, rape and ransom them back to us. What if any thing did any of those countries send to help support victoms of Katrina, 9/11 or anything that has ever happened to America. The good will and support is strictly one way. Once the Europians left Africa and turned it over to the Africans, it all reverted to pre-historic civilizations. The continent went tribal and began murdering each other. Countries that were once rising nations descended into corruption, greed, murder and chaos. America cannot fix the broken continent. We need to feed our elderly and young. Make sure our children and seniors get the appropriate medical care. The hands extending from Africa are not hands of friendship. They hate America and demand that we take care of them. If they cannot help themselfs, we have no business wasting our tax dollars on them.
You know what else costs lives? Africans breeding like rabbits when they can't feed the dozen or so they already have.
The rich industrialized nations don't give a rat's *ss about Africa. Wait until they all die and take over their land.
What are you talking about? They love selling their guns to Africa's militants.
Do not despair. They all will NEVER die out because every rich industrialized nation on the planet has a sufficient representation of the population they are hosting and supporting.
I have an idea that borders on what Sam Kinnison once said, "Bring them to where the food is".
Instead of the USA donating monies that apparently transform into monster dictators, why not take an aging aircraft carrier, refurbish it and dock it off the coast of east Africa, stock it with food, fuel, and medicine. Staff it with the proper military personnel who can secure the carrier, cook the food (how many people can an aircraft carrier serve food to at one time? It's gotta be in the thousands), keep the air conditioning on, and heal the sick in one of the many hospital/infirmaries on board. No one could abscond with any goods or money because it all goes directly to the aircraft carrier. The sick and starving people could be escorted on board and helped at almost 100% American efficiency (sorry - a bit of scarcams here). Whaddya think?
I think we should do something at the abandoned military bases across the country for our homeless here in the U.S.
Those bases have barrcks, massive laundry facilities, kitchens, medical facilities... everything homeless shelters would need, sitting there useless, that can be used as homeless shelters, and made as self-supporting. The homeless living there could be told in order to live there, they have to do their own laundry, cook their own meals, grow gardens, start up small livestock lots, egg farms... there's even room for children to be home schooled.
These huge bases could be used and converted into small workshop training centers or repair shops... something, anything to help the homeless and get them off the streets and help in some small way to help them be self supporting.
No one is doing anything at all except using them as a talking point in political shoot-outs.
Yes,OUR homeless.
I think you're unreal, soup kitchen/hospital aircraft carriers? There are not enough aircraft carriers in the whole world to feed the poor in the whole world, much less take care of their medical needs. We couldn't take care of Africa alone.
They have to reach a carry-themselves level on land ( to a western standard idea), live in poverty, or die for 3/4 of their population. I've seen the "feed the hungry kids of the world" adds since I have been a kid and they are still starving, and I'm no spring chicken. I'm sick of it. Yet their populations are growing and tripled since the 1960's.
What is this? The Christian Auschwitz petting zoo? let them die in peace if possible but with their dignity, not with a handout. Or give them technology to live decently or let them die and never return to their native land to buy their primary resources or sell them guns.
Essentially savages.Feeding them will allow them to live to breed more kids they can't feed." They ARE the 7 billion"