Last week we said goodbye to our Emergency Coordinator Tracy Stover as she boarded a plane for Dadaab, Kenya, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are in need of food and water. Watching her heavily loaded backpack disappear into the crowd at Sea-Tac airport, I found myself wondering, can one person really make a difference?
An estimated 500,000 children in the Horn of Africa are at risk of death from famine.
Tracy will be serving in the midst of the worst crisis facing the world today. The U.N. estimates 12.4 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Half a million children are at risk of death from famine.
Figures like this cause us to wonder if even thousands of aid workers and millions of dollars can make a difference.
But Tracy is not going alone. She and the rest of the World Concern team working in the Horn of Africa have the support of donors. Like an invisible, potent force, those who are giving to this cause are making it possible for aid workers to save lives.
Can one person make a difference?
Anyone whose heart was touched by the tragic passing of 9-year-old Rachel Beckwith knows the answer is yes. Rachel’s legacy will live on for decades as entire villages will have clean water for generations to come because of her selfless act.
You can make a difference too. And you don’t have to do it alone. Most people will help if they are simply asked. Here are a few ways you could do that:
Host a dinner for friends. Ask each person to bring a potluck dish to share. Present some information about the famine in the Horn of Africa. Include stories of people who are hungry and in need. Ask everyone to consider donating whatever they would have spent on a nice dinner out to help families survive this disaster.
Ask your friends to give up dinner out and donate. (Photo: Simon Howden)
Sixty dollars can provide food and water for a family for a month. Think about that: the cost of one meal in a restaurant can keep five people alive for an entire month.
Hold a garage sale or rummage sale. Round up some friends at your church and ask members to donate unused clothing and household items for a charity sale. Donate the proceeds to help in the famine relief.
You can also dedicate a birthday, anniversary or even a day’s work to the cause. World Concern partner One Day’s Wages is raising funds to support the famine response. Check out their personal fundraising tools and think about what you could do to create your own fundraiser.
Our team pulled out of Dadaab shortly after breakfast, on the road to Somalia. It’s a dry, dusty road, with thorny bush on either side. The road itself is badly rutted, so weave along the ditch, following two tire tracks in the sand. Occasionally, we jump up on the road and dip down the embankment to the other side, continuing the weaving through acacias, sand flying in little rooster tails behind us.
Following closely is our security escort, a good natured sergeant in the Administration Police, and three kids so green they barely shave. They get sent to the border fresh out of school, to work them in for a few years. Now, they chase behind us through the thorny wasteland.
The only sign of life are the dik-diks, meercats, and the birds. The birds are also a sign of death. The road is littered with cattle carcasses, at least one every kilometer, and the Marabou storks gather around them. I have never seen so many Marabou storks before. They are the undertakers of the animal kingdom, overdressed in their black coats, strutting awkwardly around, and omnipresent at a funeral. As we pull into Liboi, I notice the storks are bigger than the goats, or even a small child. And they are everywhere.
While we take some tea in Liboi, it starts to rain. Irony. Rain in a drought. But this isn’t really rain. I only notice it on my specs. It’s such a fine drizzle, my clothes don’t get wet, and the ground is no less dusty.
We head on, through a few checkpoints, and we are there. It comes as a bit of surprise, really. Our escort actually had to pull us over, so we didn’t cross the line. The Somalia border is signified by a stone. “That tree is Somali,” said our guide, “and this tree is a Kenyan.” As we waited for our vehicle from Somalia, we walked past the stone and looked around.
This was it. I was in Somalia. There were bullets in some of the trees, a battle had been fought here. One of the soldiers handed me a shell. “Your souvenir,” he said.
I returned to Liboi for a few hours, while I waited for the team in Somalia. At the borehole, warthogs jostled with goats for water. They told me even giraffes and gazelles came into town to get water now. “What about the lions?” I asked. There are about 20 out there, was the response, but they haven’t come into town. Later I met a refugee, who had seen a man killed by a lion attack in his travels.
I visited the school. It was Saturday, but the boarding students were still there, sleeping through the heat in their dorms with insufficient mattresses, hanging their laundry to dry from the broken panes of glass in the windows. Three hundred boys aged 12 and up, their parents nomadic, trying to finish primary school. They have 2 toilets, neither has a door. During the week the school swells to 800, and with their pipes broken, they can’t afford the water required for the kids to wash their hands before meals.
A young boy travels with his family across the Somalia-Kenya border.
In a small hotel, I found 100 refugees sleeping in the carport. They were waiting for evening to continue their journey. My guide told me to take their picture – that they said it was okay. The women covered their faces and looked away. They asked if I had any food. I didn’t – not for 100 people – and I felt like an idiot. The children all have watery diarrhea. I urge them, when they get to the camp, to take all their children to the clinic. “They will help you in Dadaab,” I said. I hope I’m right. I take the pictures, get in the car, and drive off. This is the part I hate.
When I met the team, they seemed a bit stunned. “It’s different over there. The ratio of soldiers to civilians is 4:1. Everyone has a gun.” And yet, the situation is really the same. Not enough food, not enough water, and not enough health care. They visited a hospital with most of the equipment intact, but holes in the wall from mortars and bullets. The roof had been destroyed in parts, and other walls were cracked and falling. An NGO is subsidizing water costs there, so at least the water is not too expensive.
We headed back to Dadaab as the sun began to set. Along the way we met a refugee family and their goats. “We left Kismayu 30 days ago,” they tell us. “People are starving to death there.”
The family of nine sleeps where night finds them, all their belongings on a donkey cart. They lost all their cows, and decided to leave before their goats died too. The woman is pregnant, and the oldest child is about 12. “Many of our people are going to Dadaab. Being in the camp is better than the drought.”
I found two packs of biscuits and a carton of juice in the boot. Our guide, a better man than I, gave them fare for the bus he knew was coming, so the mother and children could ride for 50 kilometers. The red sun slipped below the horizon into night.
World Concern is one of the first NGOs to be able to help in southern Somalia since Al-Shabaab, the militant group that controls the area, lifted a ban on humanitarian aid groups coming in. Learn more about our response and donate at www.worldconcern.org/crisis.
The term “famine” is not used loosely. In fact, there hasn’t been an official famine since 1984-85 when a million people died in Ethiopia and Sudan. Many of us remember the shocking images of hollow-cheeked, emaciated children on the news.
Map from The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk). Areas in the Horn of Africa severly affected by drought.
After multiple consecutive seasons of failed rains, the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Northeastern Kenya and Eastern Ethiopia) – is experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. The region is on the brink of famine.
In order to declare a famine, three conditions must be met:
Lack of resources to meet basic food requirements
Acute malnutrition rates above 30 percent
The mortality rate reaches five people per 10,000 per day
Somali refugees are experiencing the first two of these, and Kenyan populations, the second. Acute malnutrition in the region is the highest since 2003, according to USAID. More than 10 million people are affected.
The forecast is bleak. August is expected to be dry. About 1,300 people a day are crossing the border from Somalia into Kenya, landing in ill-equipped, over-crowded refugee camps.
Skyrocketing food prices, conflict, and limited humanitarian access have added to the crisis. Between January and April 2011, food prices increased more than 25% in Kenya. Maize prices in Somalia rose 117% since May of last year, according to the UN. Most of these populations are entirely dependent on livestock for income, but animals are dying at a rate of 40-60% above normal in Ethiopia. In some parts of Kenya most severely affected by drought, water is being trucked in.
A mother and child in a drought-affected region of Eastern Kenya.
“The current situation has been looming for some time; predications and scenarios spoken of three months ago are now, sadly, coming to fruition,” said World Concern Senior Director of Disaster Response and Security Nick Archer.
Our staff in Kenya and Somalia are assessing the needs of people in Eastern Kenya and Somalia this week. We already work in the region, and have for many years, developing clean water sources and more in drought-affected communities.
With the announcement that Al Shabaab, the militant group in control of Southern Somalia, having lifted its ban on humanitarian agencies entering the area, we’re considering resuming work in the Juba Valley – an area so plagued by conflict, we had to leave several years ago.
The faces of starving children from past famines still haunt us. Millions of concerned people around the world responded to the Ethiopia famine with donations. In a crisis, our instinct is to help. As the word “famine” teeters on the tips of officials’ tongues, we’re thankful to be able to do something. You can help World Concern respond by donating here as we deliver water and more to families enduring this crisis.
The birthday party is officially over, and now the Republic of South Sudan has a lot of growing up to do. After three days of celebration and festivities, today the people of the new nation have to face the reality of a very difficult uphill climb. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which culminated in secession this weekend, was a six-year “peace” that involved almost daily fighting. This followed a 20-year war with more than 2 million casualties.
There are 100 students in this 8th grade Arabic class, held in a tent in South Sudan.
Unfortunately, human lives were not the only casualty of war. Currently, 75% of South Sudanese do not have access to basic healthcare. There are only 20 secondary schools in the entire country of 10 million people. The past few years have seen an influx of more than 2 million refugees from the North, further burdening the underdeveloped system.
Dropout rates in South Sudan are the highest in the world, with less than 25% of children in school. Of the students who do make it school, more than 80% are in temporary shelters, and less than 15% have desks and chairs for the students. Finding a teacher is also difficult, as the adult literacy rate is less than 25%. Girls suffer the most. In 2004, as few as 500 girls finished primary school.
“We need basic education for our children,” said one mother. “The government promises free education, but there are not enough schools. Then we need to provide a uniform and a registration fee [costing about $67]. We don’t have money for schools.”
This awareness is the first step toward change. Adult literacy, especially for women, has shown the value of education, and enrollment is up every year. The government does, however need support. In Kwajok, more than a thousand students still attend class under a tree – and bring their own chair. Teachers have class sizes as high as 100.
Students often bring their own chair and meet under a tree for class.
World Concern is working with the Ministry of Education in Warrap State to build more classrooms in Kwajok, and together with UNICEF, established a new school.
In addition, we are expanding enrollment in our vocational school, to allow more men and women the opportunity for literacy and job skills. In a rapidly growing economy, demand for skilled trades is high, and these graduates are being employed by the government and NGOs, or starting their own businesses.
The road ahead is long, but for the South Sudanese, it is a worthwhile journey. Education is vital to the survival of a nation. Without it, people will continue to suffer, even with their political independence. World Concern is excited to walk the road of opportunity with the people of the Republic of South Sudan.
Chris Sheach is World Concern’s Deputy Director of Disaster Response.
Citizens of South Sudan hold their new flag on the eve of the newest nation's birth.
The winds of change are blowing in Wau. After the biggest rain storm of the season washed the streets clean this morning, the skies cleared, and Southern Sudanese got down to very serious business. In a few hours, the 193rd nation in the world will celebrate its independence.
For weeks now, everyone, young and old, has been preparing for this. Students have practiced their dancing and singing, military bands march up and down as they practice their formations, and everyone is cleaning, decorating and putting on their best show. The optimism and energy are electric. The sound of the brand new national anthem, played through loudspeakers all over town so everyone can learn it, is a background to the frenzied last minute preparations.
But the excitement is not the whole story. Today I sat with people displaced from Abyei, homeless and hungry during the greatest day in their nation’s history. An elderly man named John, blind and frail, ran from Abyei town as soldiers burned houses to the ground. His tales of the journey are horrific, including rescuing an orphaned baby on the way.
The people of South Sudan have welcomed his family and offered them free accommodations. But aid agencies are having a difficult time registering the fluid flow of migrants, and basic needs are not being met. Although John hopes for a new future, he is wise enough to know things won’t change at the stroke of midnight.
People were dancing and celebrating in the hours leading up to South Sudan's independence.
“The new government can make a difference, but what will happen to the people of Abyei until then?” he wonders. “If the area is secure we will go back, but until then we don’t want to be forgotten.”
World Concern will be celebrating along with the people of the new Republic of South Sudan, and we will walk alongside the hungry, homeless and in need until their lives are stable. To help, visit www.worldconcern.org/feedsudan.
Should Christians help the poor? The immediate response for most of us is, “of course.” But we’ve heard from people who believe Christians should only help other Christians. Their rationale is based on the stories of the early church that involve believers helping one another – not the poor in general.
While the Bible certainly encourages believers to help one another, such as in Acts 2:45, doesn’t it also command us to love others, help others and give generously, without regard to a person’s beliefs?
This opinion was a bit surprising, especially for those of us who believe so strongly in feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and healing the sick. We serve those in greatest need, regardless of race, gender or religion. We take joy in serving others, expecting nothing in return.
A World Concern staff member listens to the needs of an elderly muslim widow in Somalia.
Jesus certainly helped many people who were not necessarily believers. When he fed the 5,000, he didn’t require his disciples who were distributing the fish and loaves to verify each person’s beliefs.
Prior to telling the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus referred an expert in the law to what he must do to inherit eternal life. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The man asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then told the parable, in which a priest ignores a man who had been beaten by robbers, but a Samaritan helps him. Jesus then instructs his listener to “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus certainly did not require conversion before ministering to people. His healing touch or words were often what opened someone’s heart to receive his love and forgiveness. We find that same principle at work in our service to the poor every day.
A Sri Lankan man who had lost everything in the war, told us, “Our suffering and hardship caused us to question whether there is a God. But through the continued support and love shown towards us by the World Concern staff, we believe that there is a God and we now have hope in life.”
What if we hadn’t helped this man because he was not a Christian? He would have given up on God. Our help was the tangible expression of God’s love he needed in order to believe.
A pastor who supports World Concern says, “Jesus came with a message and a mission. Sometimes churches are all about the message and forget about the mission.”
Like this pastor, we believe it’s important to share Christ’s love in word and deed. In situations where appropriate, we offer an opportunity to hear the gospel. But what about the places where we can’t? Should those people be left to starve or die of thirst? In contexts hostile to Christianity, our witness is simply reflected through the work we do.
In the verse above, we are commanded to love our neighbor. That’s why we do what we do. Just like in the Good Samaritan story, our “neighbor” is often someone with whom we have nothing in common.
I have a friend who went to church pregnant and unmarried. The love and support she received led her to recommit her life to Christ. Today, 20 years later, she’s happily married, a mother of three, and a committed Christian. She admits, had she been hit with the gospel the minute she walked in the door of that church, she would have never returned.
If we were to plunk ourselves into a drought or disaster stricken community and start preaching the gospel, with no offer to help, very few people would be receptive. Practical help often opens the door to be able to share why we do what we do.
Abouk Dut has a lot to worry about. She is homeless, living under a small plastic tarp and, when I met her, she was standing in line for food rations. When it rains, no one can sleep, as their small shelter floods. The plastic tarp her family uses is more than most have received, and there are thousands that have not yet been registered for food rations.
She is 100 miles from her home in Abyei, with no guarantee that she can go back.
Abouk is smiling because, despite all she has left behind in Abyei, she is hopeful about the future in South Sudan.
But, when we talked, her face was lit with hope. She rejoices that she escaped Abyei, and that most of her family is with her. “Many people lost their family in the bush, and have never reunited,” she said.
Even more, she is hopeful for the future. In just under two weeks, on July 9, South Sudan will gain independence, and Abouk is excited about the changes to come.
“The people here in the South have welcomed those of us from Abyei. They sympathize with our plight and support us.” Abouk predicts the new country will be a better place to live, with police to protect civilians and reduce crime, more protection for women, and a chance to return home. “The South Sudan government will pay attention to the people of Abyei, and help us go home. We are excited to be a part of this new nation.”
Amidst the stories of loss and suffering coming out of South Sudan, we’re hearing words of hope like this. Providing food and basic of necessities is bringing hope to displaced people there. Though they have left everything behind, and have no idea what’s ahead, many like Abouk are holding onto hope for a better future in the world’s newest nation.
World Concern is working on solutions beyond food, including constructing temporary schools for the more than 4,000 new students in the area. We’re also gathering resources to provide housing and cooking supplies for people like Abouk and her family.
This was the response scribbled by my 19-year-old daughter on a note I left asking her to clean up the house. I had written, “This house has been such a mess, I’m starting to dread coming home,” scolding my family for not being tidier.
Hard to believe she had to remind her humanitarian-aid-writer mother that I should be thankful just to have a home. But she’s right. In fact, millions of people don’t have a home; many through no fault of their own.
A mom and her daughter wash dishes outside their hut in the Djabal Refugee Camp in Eastern Chad.
Today is World Refugee Day, and it’s an opportunity for all of us to think about those who had to leave everything behind and start over in a new place – usually in very dire circumstances.
World Concern works with thousands of refugees who are trying to begin a new life in a foreign land. They live in camps, often for years, before their lives are stabilized enough for them to think about the next step. We help provide food, access to clean water, health and hygiene training, education, income generation and more.
But what’s the ultimate goal?
“For them to be able to go home,” says Chris Sheach, deputy director of disaster response for World Concern.
Many of those who fled Darfur during the war, for example, are still living in camps in Chad, where World Concern works. Their homes and villages were burned. They would love nothing more than to go home, but there is nothing for them to return to.
“If they can’t go home, we help them integrate into a new society,” says Sheach. World Concern’s Cash for Work program in Chad has enabled families to earn income to support themselves and contribute to the local economy, thereby reducing the risk of creating conflict in their host community. We also assist them in obtaining land to farm, and provide seeds and farming tools to grow their own food and earn income.
In an ideal world, situations wouldn’t escalate to the point where people had to flee their homes for survival in the first place. Sometimes they do go home, such as in Somaliland (northern Somalia), where returnees from Ethiopia and other areas are settling in camps in their homeland. Their hope is that they’ll be able to find a new home. But 96% of them are dependent on food aid. We’re teaching them to plant vegetable gardens to feed their families, and hopefully improve their diet beyond the staple grains they receive from aid agencies.
Paying cash for labor is one way World Concern helps refugees support their families.
Nearly every parent’s desire is to provide a better life for their children. A home is the foundation that provides the stability kids need to pursue their dreams. I’m blessed to be able to provide that for my kids (despite it being a bit messy at times). The circumstances refugees find themselves in today is one of those things that makes me want to scream, “It’s not fair!” And it’s not. But we can stomp our feet, or we can do something about it. I’m proud to be a part of an organization that’s doing something about it.
Rather than fostering any hint of a global pity party, we’re empowering refugees by giving them the the tools to move forward. Whether or not they can return home, we can help them focus on the future and the hope of having place to call home.
Imagine being just a teenager and having to leave everything you’ve ever known behind. Fleeing violence in your home town, you and your family walk for days to find food, water and a place to stay. Now, imagine doing that with your 4-month-old in your arms.
17-year-old Arual and her 4-month-old son arrived in South Sudan with nothing but some baby clothes.
Arual told us her story as she arrived in Gogrial, an area of South Sudan where World Concern is distributing emergency rations to refugees and displaced families. It illustrates the extreme challenges faced by those who fled recent violence in Abyei.
I was in Khartoum but joined my mother with my brother and a sister in Abyei last year. My dad died a long time ago, so grew up with my mother who took care of us until she first came to the south leaving me in Khartoum. I was studying and had completed primary grade eight, and thus had to join our family in Abyei. It was there that I got married to an irresponsible man, but had to return home where I gave birth to my son named Chol.
It was May 19 when the incident intensified and thus we had to move out on foot just carrying with me a small bag containing some clothes for my baby boy. In the process, we were separated from our mother and I had to take care of my brother and sister. We moved for four days without food but only water and wild fruits, which made less breast milk for my baby. After four days we found a truck which was coming to Kuajok and we begged the driver who had mercy and gave us a lift to a place allocated for returnees from Khartoum.
We spent four days sharing food with others who had arrived earlier and received food and other items. On the fifth day, a returnee from Khartoum who happened to be our neighbor pitied my situation and my baby and took me and my sister and brother to his home where we are now living.
We have not heard anything about my mother, whether she is still alive or dead. Had it not been for this good person, I would not know how to feed these two children.
While the circumstances of each person’s story differ, they all tell of civilians caught in the crossfire of fighting armies. Panic, fear and loss are common threads throughout their stories.
We’re providing a month’s worth of food for people arriving in the areas where we work, and coordinating with other organizations to distribute cooking supplies, blankets and other necessities. But the strain on host communities is tremendous. They struggle on a good day to survive – they’re just not set up for a massive influx of people who are arriving with nothing.
Smoke rises from burnt homes in Abyei town. REUTERS/Stuart Price
Independence Day is approaching for South Sudan, but the situation is far from the celebration millions had hoped for. Tension continues in and around the border region of Abyei. An estimated 80,000 people have fled the fighting.
Some of those who have fled homes that were burned in Abyei are beginning to arrive in the areas where we work. Others are returning from the north before the nation splits.
World Concern Sudan Country Director Peter Macharia says skyrocketing food and fuel prices are creating a humanitarian crisis, and if things don’t change soon, shipments from the north may stop all together.
Here’s more of Peter’s report from the field.
As you may have heard from the news, many people are coming out of Abyei but with very little. Some were only able to salvage and carry with them some of their household belongings. In their new destinations, some of these people are being forced to sell their belongings to survive. This crisis is complicating an already complex problem.
We are giving out food to people that have been displaced from Abyei. So far, we have provided food to almost 4,000 people who have moved to Western Bahr el Ghazal State. We are issuing them with a one month ration of food, which includes sorghum, beans, oil and salt. Other immediate support that these people need include mosquito nets, cooking sets, soap, blankets, buckets and jerrycans.
Those displaced from Abyei and those returning from the north require urgent help to start their lives once again. Some have vowed never to go back, but even those who may want to stay for a little while before they decide if they will go back, will also need help. They have no idea of when they will able to return to their former homes.
This crisis may run for long, bearing in mind that South Sudan is becoming a new country on July 9, and the Abyei contention seems like it has just began.
As agencies, we are also feeling the pain of the Abyei effects. Fuel is in great shortage. Currently in Wau where we have our Bahr el Ghazal office, we are buying petrol and diesel for $4.20 a liter. The main problem is even getting it. If things don’t change, we will be grounded and the greatest crisis will be lack of transport.
Food prices are on the increase. All these have been brought about by the closure of the road connecting the north and the south along the Abyei area. It is important to note that most of the food and products in the south are imported from the north.
This is a planting season and it will be unfortunate if the farmers fail to plant their farms. This may lead to serious famine next year.
The crisis in Sudan is escalating just as the hunger gap is beginning. This period of time between stored food running out and the next harvest typically requires additional aid. This year, the situation is much worse.
You can help us respond to this crisis by providing emergency food and supplies to families who have fled their homes. Click here to donate.
