Horn Of Africa Famine Captures World's Attention! Help On The Way?

Horn of Africa famine: How to help

Somalia, already one of the world's poorest countries, is in midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe, as a third of its popultion - 3.7 million people - face starvation. Throughout the Horn of Africa, in countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, as many as 11 million people are currently at risk of severe malnutrition or starvation as the region faces the worst drought conditions in 60 years.


The drought conditions, combined with an ongoing struggle between the Somali government and Islamic militants, as well as a recent rise in food prices, have all combined to create conditions that have stretched aid agencies thin.


The Horn of Africa region is now full of refugee camps, some with occupants numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Every day, countless families arrive half-dead out of the desert seeking help.


Many aid agencies say they have the capacity to address some of the worst results of the crisis, but they lack the funding to do so. Fortunately, there are many ways to help. Below is a list of some of the aid organizations with relief operations in the Horn of Africa, along with links to their donation pages.

UNICEF is among the most active charitable organizations supporting children in Somalia. They say as many 640,000 children are acutely malnourished in southern Somalia alone. Their programs support 16 stabilization centers, 201 outpatient therapeutic programs, and 325 supplementary feeding programs. To donate money to UNICEF, visit here. To learn how you can donate your time.

The U.N.'s World Food Program is the world's largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger, and is funded entirely through donations. Their work in the Horn of Africa is extensive and crucial. To find out how to donate to the WFP.

Save the Children is one of the world's leading independent nonprofit organizations. It has made an urgent call to donors to provide life-saving help to thousands of families in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. "Eighty percent of the refugees are children and the majority of the remainder are women," says Duncan Harvey, Save the Children's Deputy Country Director in Ethiopia. To find a list of the many ways to help Save the Children with their work in East Africa.

The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. To support their work helping refugees in the famine.

Doctors without Borders, founded in 1971, provides independent, impartial medical assistance to those most in need in crisis zones throughout the world. They have been working actively with Somali refugees in northern Kenya since 2009. To find out about the many ways to support their medical mission.

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization that places special focus on working alongside poor women because, they say, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Their immediate efforts for Somalia refugees in Kenya include safe water, sanitation, and emergency aid to newly arrived refugees. Individuals, especially children, who are suffering from malnutrition and medical problems are referred to supplementary and therapeutic feeding programs and stabilization units. Families are provided with emergency rations while awaiting access to general food distributions. To donate to CARE's East Africa program.

Mercy Corps is a global aid agency that works for long periods of time in areas that have experienced some kind of shock. They currently work with Somali refugees in Kenya, and plan on expanding their mission to alleviate the famine into Somalia and Ethiopia. To find out how to donate.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has operations in Kenya and parts of Somalia helping refugees. To donate to the Red Cross.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. They are currently undertaking famine relief operations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. To donate to their effort.

American Jewish World Service is an international development organization that has a long-standing presence in East Africa and is working with humanitarian organizations already on the ground to provide critical aid to refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities, including food, water and sanitation, medical support and personal safety. To find out how to donate to AJWS' effort in the region.

Islamic Relief USA is a legally separate and independent member of a global family of collaborating relief organizations that was awarded its sixth consecutive four-star rating by Charity Navigator in 2009. They already had relief projects in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia prior to the current crisis. To find out about volunteering with or donating to Islamic Relief USA.


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Sources: CARE, CBS News, Youtube, Google Maps

Hunger In America: Recession Hits Senior Citizens Especially Hard

Hunger in America. Food pantries and soup kitchens say they are have never seen such demand for food. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Recession sends more Senior Citizens to soup kitchens



Older Americans who were raised on stories of the Great Depression and acquired lifelong habits of thrift now find themselves crowding soup kitchens and food pantries in greater numbers for the first time after seeing retirement funds, second jobs and nest eggs wiped out by recession.

"What we see in line is lots of gray hair, lots of walkers," said Marti Forman, CEO of The Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The help is crucial for many fixed-income seniors, who can't always keep up with rising food prices.

"It's a lifeline. It just means that you can function," said Ronald Shewchuk of Ithaca, N.Y. "Otherwise we would have to sell our house. I don't know what we would do. Go to an old age home."

The number of seniors living alone who seek help from food pantries in the U.S. increased 81 percent to 408,000 in 2008, compared to 225,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, 4.7 million households used American food pantries in 2008, compared to about 3.7 million in 2006.

"Seniors thought they were OK, but they're not OK," said Virginia Skinner, director of Development at The Association of Arizona Food Banks in Phoenix, citing the downturn in the area's housing market.

Catholic Charities USA, which has 170 agencies across the country helping the needy, issued a 2009 third-quarter report that found a 54 percent increase in requests for food and services from seniors nationwide compared to the same period last year.

Not easy to seek help

Despite the increased need, it can be difficult for some older people to come forward and seek help.

"They're of a generation that feels they took care of themselves, and now in these desperate straits they don't want to acknowledge it," said Catholic Charities spokesman Roger Conner. "With seniors and retirees — people that were planning for that period of their life — they are often very proud and very private, and they want no one to know of the difficulties they might be experiencing."

Shewchuk, a 72-year-old retired technician, said he's been struggling to pay his bills and keep up with rising food costs. He said he and his wife Helen, 75, never needed charity before and used to volunteer at their local soup kitchen. This year, they started using it five days a week and getting assistance from food banks and the state. They have no children.

"We just have Social Security and a small pension, and we just can't make it with the mortgage payments and the gas and electric and so forth," Shewchuk said. "It's just draining our resources."

At St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, 64-year-old Sherry Whittemore was collecting her monthly box of canned juice, pasta, beans and vegetables. She began coming to the food bank in January after losing her customer relations job at a Fry's Electronics store.

"I thought I would be able to get a job soon, but that's just unrealistic," Whittemore said.

Even with a temporary job helping people with vocational training and unemployment payments, she has had to tap into about $14,000 in savings.

From riches back to rags

Hubert Scheid, 76, drives a Lexus and owns a two-bedroom condo in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but says he has depleted his savings and works part time as a security guard to pay for rent, food and medication.

Even then, it's still not enough. But he makes too much money to qualify for most assistance. For the Thanksgiving holidays, he expected to get a food box and turkey from The Pantry of Broward.

"I owned a Porsche. I had all the trimmings, the way you want to live when you're young and successful," Scheid said. "I went from rags to riches and from riches back to rags. You can't get help because you have it too good, but you don't have it good enough."

Older people also have the added disappointment of no cost-of-living increase in Social Security checks this year.

"Seniors were hit with the decline in the stock market," said Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State. "It's unsettling when you lose a lot of your investment."

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger released a report on the city's soup kitchens and food pantries that found that 68 percent of responding agencies were seeing an increase in senior citizens. Hunger Solutions Minnesota said this month that food-shelf visits from older people increased 26 percent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2008.

Anthony Butler, executive director of St. John's Bread and Life, a Brooklyn food pantry and soup kitchen, said some of the newest needy were volunteers, comfortable in their retirement. Now they're clients.

"People thought they would get by. They were surprised they would have to use a place like ours," he said. "We get a lot of that."

In Phoenix, Whittemore started volunteering at St. Mary's as a way to give back for the food she was receiving and also because she thought her situation would be short-term. Though people are respectful, she can't help feeling self-conscious.

"I'd like to be on that end," Whittemore said, pointing to a group of volunteers handing out Thanksgiving turkeys, "instead of this end."



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Sources: MSNBC, New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Google Maps