How To Help Victims of the East African Famine
Fairfax reaches out to help those facing extreme conditions brought on by historic famine in Africa.
By Elizabeth Robichaux Brown
http://fairfaxcity.patch.com/articles/how-to-help-victims-of-the-east-african-famine-5

As the world watches the famine spread through eastern Africa, those in Northern Virginia's Somali community hold their breath, waiting for any news concerning family members who may be among the thousands of refugees.

More than 13 million people, especially children, are in dire need of food, water and medicine, due to one of the worst droughts in 60 years, according to the World Food Programme. The WFP estimates that 1,200 Somali refugees are pouring into Kenya each day, while another 200 desperate families are crossing the border into Ethiopia.

The Somali Family Care Network is a Fairfax-based non-profit that helps Somalis refugees settle into American society.

Farrah Hussein, SFCN Project Coordinator, says many in the local Somali community are doing their best to keep abreast of the unfolding situation on the ground, which remains fluid.

“Many are trying to communicate with whatever family members they can reach to obtain information on the whereabouts of others,” says Hussein.

Hussein says the Somali community is currently organizing several fundraisers to “raise money for Somali non-governmental organizations on the ground to alleviate the suffering and provide essential resources.”

President Barack Obama approved $105 million in famine aid for East Africa. Meanwhile, the International Red Cross is asking donors for 86 million dollars to help the people of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, and the American Red Cross has pledged up to a million dollars.

And while governments and most well-known relief organizations are stepping up, so are many Fairfax County residents.

Cheryl Kravitz, with the American Red Cross National Capital Region, says they have already received calls from people who are searching for ways to help. Kravitz says, in situations like this, the best thing you can do is donate.

“It’s important that we have the financial ability to help people who are in dire emergencies down the street, across the country and around the world,” says Kravitz.

Here are the easiest ways to donate to some of the major relief organizations with volunteers and staff already on the ground in Africa:

International Red Cross

•Select Somalia and proceed to the online donation process http://www.icrc.org/eng/donations/index.jsp

American Red Cross

•Donations can be directed to the area with the greatest need, such as Somalia. https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5243.donation=form1&df_id=5243&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_NewsArticle
World Food Programme

•Donate $10 by texting the word AID to this number 27722
•Charges will appear on your next bill
•Go here for larger donations. https://www.wfp.org/donate/hoa_banners

World Vision

•Select your dollar amount and proceed to the online donation process.
Kravitz says it takes highly-trained people who are familiar with the region and culture to help in emergencies like this.

Emergency teams from Fairfax County have often responded to disasters around the country and world. A team was deployed to Haiti to assist after the 2010 earthquake.

She says the team sent to Haiti knew the Creole language, giving them another advantage when it came to assisting the thousands left homeless.

But you don’t have to speak another language to understand the sense of urgency in Africa right now.
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If you are starving how in the heck can you reproduce? I feel sorry for them but the US is in the shit can. We need to help our own first

How can they reproduce? Wrote:
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> If you are starving how in the heck can you
> reproduce? I feel sorry for them but the US is in
> the shit can. We need to help our own first

No offense to anyone, but I'm not helping these people anymore. After what they did to our soldiers (remember "Blackhawk Down"?). Forget it! If you can find time to fuck and spit out kids like that, then you have time to go out and plant some goddamn corn. Enough Said.

I don't have alot of money but I'd still like to help. yeah I know the politics of Somalia & all that, but these are kids starving here.

When you live in the dirt and can't feed yourself, maybe you should keep your legs closed for a couple of days a month and NOT HAVE FIVE OR SIX OR SEVEN CHILDREN! Are these people or cattle?

Oh this so sad! The children are always the ones to suffer.

>I don't have alot of money but I'd still like to help. yeah I know the politics of Somalia & all that, but these are kids starving here.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...this is nothing new -- famine in Africa. Do some research on Rwanda if you really want to feel sorry for some folks.

Looking at that kid made me hungry. Gonna make a sammich now.

It is hard to see those children. Then I realize that enough of them survive to continue keep that population so great (and growing.)

STOP FUCKING! All the help they get just serves to make them more able to proliferate. If we saved every single child - each one would go on to make four more.

Why are we always bailing other countries out and then hearing how much they hate us? Somalia really has alot of nerve asking for help, especially from us. I feel bad for their children, but enough is enough. I need my money to pay MY bills and feed MY children.

why iz youse so cruel mister massahs? they needz to eatz too, y youse don't wanna see tem people eat. they have the lush brillo hair they needs to maintainz and they cocoa lotion cream tooz, please don'ts be so cruels. where is russels simmons, and al sharptons to save all us negroes in africas. we needs to get out of here but for now we needz food.

we promise not to riot anymorez or do flash mob robberies, we be good crisco negroes. we play basketball and in the nfl, like every good negro youth aspires too. if we can't play sports we'll leer at white womenz with good manners, no more cat calling. we's promise. please i needs to feed my 20 childrens and my five baby's momma.

-crisco negro

Africa is a huge ghetto. The people are either savage heavily armed criminals or primitive helpless ignorants.
In either case, any attempt to assist these primitives is a waste of resources .Look what happened with the Blackhawk down incident.

Why every fucking so called famine in africa is historic? Thankful africa is a long swim from here and sharks still roam the oceans. Fuck then, why don't the OP take his or her ass over there and cook for them and show them how move where the food is, the animals do it all the time.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 05:28AM by dika-dika.