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thejoysofverass:

fyeahafrica:

The world has “failed to ensure food security”, France’s agriculture minister has said at the UN food agency crisis talks on East Africa’s drought.

“If we don’t take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century,” AFP news agency quotes Bruno Le Maire as saying in Rome.

More than 10m people are thought to be at risk of starvation and famine has been declared in two areas of Somalia.

Ahead of the summit, the World Bank pledged $500m (£307m) to help.

Some $12m will be for immediate assistance to those worst hit by what the UN says is East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years.

But the bulk of the money will go towards long-term projects to aid livestock farmers.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged donor nations to supply an extra $1.6bn in aid.

Earlier the Red Cross said it had delivered food to one of Somalia’s worst-hit areas, which is controlled by Islamists.

Working through a local committee, the Red Cross delivered food for 24,000 people by lorry.

[Read More]

Last week at my work, a tall, dark man came up to talk to me. He asked what ethnicity I was and I said I was Filipino. He told me that he was from Djibouti, Africa and that I would be hearing that name a lot over the weekend. He told me that over the weekend 2 million people would die due to a drought spreading in Africa.

He commented on how he knows Filipinos as having big hearts and do anything to help people in need (started listing  examples of when the Filipino community would help other communities). He also said Africans and Filipinos go back and can relate to each other. And now he is asking me for help. He is asking me to only spread the word. I told him I was a blogger and that I would do my part into spreading the word and to raise the awareness to what is going on the other side of the world,  which some people choose to think of once and go back to stressing out on their  missing iPhone charger.

The man who who first informed be of the drought asked for my hand and kissed it. He said “You are now my sister,” and I knew every word he told me was genuine.

I live in a country where even the homeless people in San Francisco has more than the children in Africa. I hate wasting food and not being able to directly help my brothers and sisters in another country. Right now, I just want to spread the word. The more I read, the more I know. Read, learn, research, write, blog, spread the word, talk.

(Source: dynamicafrica)