Self Help for East Africa
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017, in Charity, Christian Values, Community, Ecology, Faith and Justice, Natural DisastersComments Off on Self Help for East Africa
As we come to the end of our own Lenten fasts and head into the abundance of Easter, it is important to remember the Global food inequalities that exist. More than 20 million people in Africa today are in urgent need of food, as the world responds to a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations is describing as the worst since the end of World War II.
If the current drought in the East Africa brings a sense of déjà vu, it’s because we have been there before. In fact we are seeing this situation occur with increasing regularity.
When the United Nations reported in 2011 that the drought was the region’s worst for 60 years, they were speaking of a crisis that affected approximately 12 million people. Today, it is many more.
Global forces like changing climate, or human factors like population growth or political instability have all contributed, but the reality is that in our world of plenty, innocent people at risk of dying from need, in great numbers.
Gorta-Self Help Africa is an organisation that combined two aid groups, Gorta and Self Help Africa to be able to respond to this current crisis in the best way possible. Miriam Gormally met with George Jacob to find out how their organisation is helping small farmers in East Africa.
They also tackle the issue of how our own farming models, which themselves contribute to high levels or green house gases, should be exported. She began by asking though whether there is a sense of frustration or “donor fatigue” at the reality that the situation, despite serval large scale appeals, appears to be getting worse.