MNHQ here: The Disasters Emergency Committee East Africa Crisis Appeal

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello,

The Disasters Emergency Committee have been in touch about their East Africa Crisis Appeal. You can read more about this here on the BBC and on the DEC website.

This is what they say:

“On 20 February 2017, the United Nations declared famine in parts of Unity State of South Sudan and warned that it could spread rapidly without further action. South Sudan has been suffering from conflict for over three years and parts of the country have not had any rain for two. The World Food Programme reports that 40% of the South Sudanese population (4.9 million people) need food urgently, and close to 100,000 are in imminent danger of death by starvation, with a million more on the brink of famine.

“The same drought that has affected parts of South Sudan is also causing havoc across Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. The UN warns that the situation is worse than it was in 2011 before the declaration of famine that saw 260,000 people die of starvation in Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012. There is a need to both step up the immediate humanitarian response to save lives, and to work to prevent a catastrophe in the months ahead.

“People are already dying in South Sudan, Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya because of malnutrition. The next stage is that the number of deaths will increase exponentially unless life-saving investment is made now. It costs much less to scale up humanitarian assistance in order to prevent people from dying of starvation than it does to deal with a full famine and its dire consequences, which can lead to massive suffering for many years.

“After the 2011 Somalia famine, when financing was too slow to catch up with the deteriorating situation, the international community said “never again”. There is plenty of food in the world, and no-one should die from starvation in 2017.

“DEC members are working across the region, including in the worst affected counties of Unity State in South Sudan, where they have been providing humanitarian assistance in where access is possible and limited resources can stretch. With increased funding, DEC members can scale up their operations to address some of the life-saving needs of affected populations and to help many who would otherwise die from starvation.”

If you would like to donate to their appeal, you can do so here.

Thanks
MNHQ

[walruswhiskers]

I've just donated. Such a horrible thing to see parts of the world in famine again.

[PausingFlatly]

Thank you for this. The UK govt will be matching pound for pound (up to £5 million), so it's worth donating through DEC to trigger that.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

MNHQ - could you stick this?

[WaegukSaram]

Thank you for posting this. The scenes from South Sudan are utterly wretched. Poor souls.

Will be donating via your link tomorrow.

[RowanMumsnet]

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

MNHQ - could you stick this?

Yep will do, thanks

[elephantoverthehill]

Red nose day is coming up. Does anyone know if the proceeds will be diverted to this crisis or to ones already decided upon?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Thank you for sharing this.

[FourToTheFloor]

I donated last week through Red Cross and will again next pay. It's uterly horrific in this day and age people are starving and forced to eat grass.

Those poor babies, and their families made me bawl.

[TheXxxxx]

Thank you mumsnet for highlighting this issue i have donated hopefully this disaster will be averted.

[Vonklump]

I was going to donate money in lieu of Mother's Day this year.
My Mum would have appreciated it going to the DEC.

Thank you.

[80sMum]

Thanks for pushing this to the top of the list MN. DH has now donated, as instructed by his financial manager (ie me!).

[PhoenixJasmine]

Donated, if you have applepay then it is literally just a few thumb movements on your phone on the DEC website.

It's unbelievable we still can't feed everyone, people are actually dying from starvation whilst obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc rockets in other parts of the world. It's horrifying. There but for the grace of God (not religious at all but YKWIM)

[colouringinagain]

Bumping.

So terrible when the world does actually produce enough food for everyone.

Such awful stories

[CoffeeMad18]

Thank you for the apple pay info. Made it easy to donate.

[Ladydepp]

I can't believe this is happening again . Donation made.

[oliversax]

Thanks for text donating info

[Jane555]

Thanks for sharing this and giving an opportunity to help. Sad to understand that living in a cosmic post-industrial era people still die from disasters like this.. I support the philosophy of mutual help (better described here planetaryproject.com/planet_project/philosophy/ ), what happens now in Africa is our common problem.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

bump :)

[WaegukSaram]

Bumping again.

[FourToTheFloor]

Time for another bump

[Ladydepp]

Bump

[PausingFlatly]

Sunday lunchtime bump.