Title | Horn of Africa Drought 2011 – Give me hope that ‘help’ is coming! |
Director(s) | RGB Street Scholar |
Date released | 2011 |
Production company | RGB Street Scholar |
Length | 4.10mins |
Location | Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia |
Keywords/tags | Food security, climate, food aid, activism |
Link to film | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8YoCdMpMUU&feature=share&list=PLIAHio7X18uEHwLYz6zWwgoV96r3BLu1X |
Synopsis | This music video (featuring a remix of the Tracy Chapman song ‘Let It Rain’) endeavours to highlight the urgent need of our brothers and sisters in Horn of Africa, whose lives are endangered by the worst drought in sixty years. More than 10 million people (including those in the worst affected areas of Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia). |
Reviews/discussion | United Nations and international aid agencies say the crisis is overwhelming their ability to provide assistance to the millions of people who are suffering… and as the agencies are overstretched and under-funded, they are appealing for more help from the international community. The U.N. Children’s Fund estimates more than two million young children from the Horn of Africa are malnourished, and in need of urgent life-saving actions. It says half a million of those children are facing imminent life-threatening conditions… and warns that many of the children may be left with long-lasting physical and mental problems. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are fully stretched in various locations inside Somalia, as well as assisting exhausted refugees crossing Somalia’s borders into Ethiopia and Kenya. According to World Vision… Risks of the outbreak of disease are growing, and people’s access to food and water is in jeopardy. Children are among those most vulnerable in the worst hit countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Save the Children has advised that more than a quarter of children in the worst-hit parts of Kenya are now dangerously malnourished… and in Somalia, malnutrition rates have reached 30 percent in some areas, making the Horn of Africa one of the hungriest places on earth. According to Matt Croucher, Save the Children’s regional emergency manager for East Africa… “Thousands of children could starve if we don’t get life-saving help to them fast”… “Parents no longer have any way to feed their children; they’ve lost their animals; their wells have dried up; and food is too expensive to afford”… “We can stop this tragedy unfolding, but we only have half the money we need. We urgently need to raise the rest so we can save more children’s lives.” |
Links to other resources | World Food Programme https://www.wfp.org/ Save the Children: https://secure.savethechildren.org/ Médecins Sans Frontières: http://www.msf.org/ CARE International: https://my.care.org World Vision: http://donate.worldvision.org Unicef: http://www.supportunicef.org Plan International: http://plan-international.org Oxfam International: http://www.oxfam.org/ Oxfam published a briefing on climate change and drought in east Africa The Guardian Poverty Matters Blog: Posted by Duncan Green , Monday 8 August 2011 07.00 BST guardian.co.uk |