23 million people in Africa facing starvation.

[mumblecrumble]

What the heck can we do about it?

5 second piece about it on the radio news tonight and nothing anywhere else. I was very hungry on the way home and dd was crying as she was hungry. We ate eggs with tuna and cheese, yogurts and a friday night Oreo cookie.

What the hell would we do if we couldn;t feed our kids.

Sorry, not preachy or raving. Just so overwhlemed by it. 23 million? That's insane syrely

i know a lot of folk would be happy to give when they know the money is getting to those in need. I buy the ethical gifts that are "ringfenced" ie the charities guarantee that the gift you purchase is the one given and, impotantly, the cost of admin, postage of the gift cert you get, anything is all included in the price you pay.

This is the best gift ive ever seen. To feed a malnourished child. For 7 quid

here savethechildren.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems-1-emergencies.html

The plumpynut been used with great success. Lot of articles on the web if you go digging

I worked in a feeding centre in asia and there are massive problems feeding the undernourished children that got there, paricularly with what foods and volume they needed to take. This stuff would have made all the difference as its tempting and easy to eat and the children could have actually gone home with a months supply (a month makes all the difference on this stuff). it doesnt need clean water to eat or refridgeration which is a huge help.

we put a week or months supply in all our christmas cards last year (you can have cards sent to you with the gift cert printed in). Often instead of gifts. Most folk seemed very taken with it.

if anyone interested i can dig out and stick up the link to the months supply

It's all very well talking about whether or not 100% of charitable donations get through but frankly even if it's only 50% then that's better than nothing isn't it? Look at all the blooming hooha about the likelihood of a few thousand people dying in this country from Swine Flu. We are talking about 23 million people we could keep alive if we choose to.

Why don't we just sort it out first and then argue about the rights and wrongs of the situation afterwards? If we stand by and let this happen are we any better (actually probably worse) than those who stood by and let millions go to their deaths in the concentration camps in WW2?

Of course organizations need money, but there seems to be real problems marrying up the money with the people on the ground who need it.

Seems that appeals are better at this, such as Comic Relief.

Would be really happy to be wrong

No, I'm sure you are right but when we are told this number of people are in real danger of dying of starvation and we have the resources to prevent it then I kind of think that should try and get on with it. Of course there's corruption, inefficiency and the need to get to the root of what's causing it all in the first place but I don't think any of that should put us off taking action right now. I cannot believe that doing something is better than doing nothing.

The link below to Save The Children?

I think the more well-known charities like this one and Oxfam are more likely to be above board iykwim with a good proportion of the money being spent well.

Interesting link about Dependency Theory, Manatee.

It does make sense that if African nations looked after themselves and didn;t try to 'compete' with the West they might do better.

Clean drinking water has got to be the no.1 issue for Africa hasn't it?

If you can't afford to give but have savings instead of a pension I was reading about is now shouting at ds. I feel like kicking him in the nuts. these today
Basically, you give a loan to someone in a developing country to help them start a business, they give you updates and then you get your money back.... to loan out again if you want!

what? sorry I dont know how that got copied and pasted

sorry about that this

make and email your own christmas wish list, incl water filter £7, to people giving you gifts this year

www.concerngifts.org/index.php?region=UK

AH. But this is my point. How on earth do you know if your money is actually ehlping. My original post mentioned an artile on radio 4 about aid damaging he people that we, presumably, want to help.

I put this thread in food on purpose. It really jolted with the recipes and stuff...

I think we're all agreed that this is a complex issue and that long-term solutions need to be implemented to get people to be self-sufficient. However, the imminent famine is due to four years of failed rains so surely these people need food sending to them to prevent them from starving to death?

Exactly houseofmirth. We are gradually learning more about the best ways help can be given and money deployed for maximum longterm benefit. It is possible even as an individual giver to look into the best ways and choose the charities and programs to give more support to, with that in mind.

But in the meantime if help isn't given at times like this when so urgently needed its catastophic.

There's a bit of category confusion here between disaster relief and development aid. Disaster relief is the short-term response to an emergency situation (famine, flood etc); development aid is a long-term project with the ultimate aim of reducing poverty rates, improving capacity in developing countries, tackling governance and corruption issues etc.

Almost nobody, that I'm aware of, advocates an end to disaster relief.

The 'big' development charities like ActionAid, Oxfam, StC etc are all extremely good places to send money if you're concerned about contributing to disaster relief, IMO.

There is a huge debate at the moment about the future of development aid, and indeed whether there should be any such aid at all. It's a tremendously complex area. I recommend Duncan Green's blog for the pro-development aid POV, and Bill Easterly's AidWatch blog for the anti-development aid perspective.

Africa needs long term solutions to the problem of food security and stakeholders themselves need to be at the heart of any initiatives. For example this charity doesn't give aid to Africa but works with communities, training them to plant vegetable gardens thereby enabling them to grow their own food.

www.gardenafrica.org.uk/

Training is done by local people and gardening techniques and knowledge passed on to friends and neighbours. The charity then pulls out leaving the programmes in place to be continued by the community.

Policywonk is spot on, there is a difference between humanitarian disaster relief and long term developmental aid.

Both still remain contentious issues. Africans believe that they should be able, as a continent, to deal with disasters that occur and there are many disaster preparedness plans in place. However the reality is, is that they can't do it alone so turn to the UN and the West.

The focus of development aid nowadays is to promote sustainability and community consultation. It's no good building a hospital if there are no qualified nurses to staff it and the community believe a health centre would be more useful. The aim thus is to reduce dependency on aid. However, as Policy says there are huge arguments for giving aid and huge arguments against........

By sending your money to the big NGO's, not only are you providing resources to run essential programmes, but you are also helping to empower them to influence policy and have a greater long term influence, changing lives from the top down. A great deal of your money is likely to go on salaries and overheads, rather direct to the ordinary people, but these people are making a difference. Also, there are strict regulations regarding auditing of NGOs in each country and transparency is essential.

Now, would anyone like to donate to help me and a friend set up my tiny NGO providing health services to those who have mental health issues? I can guarantee the money goes direct to those suffering from schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Hi Guys, mentioned above I was inspired to rase some money to promote fair trade. Did 24 hour fast yesterday and raised about £100. Also gave me the opportunity to have a tiny bit of empathy to hunger and how difficult it must be. Was an interesting experience and raise dsome money. Fingers crossed that little bit of money can find its way to someone who needs it.

mumblecrumble - on a human level it is a tradgedy and we all feel powerless.

However, having traded commodites in and out of African nations the grim truth is that in many cases African coutries are in the state they are in ONLY because of the behaviour of their leaders. It is a rather convenient cover to blame the West but the corruption in many African countries is gross.

Abeta, do you mena you have traded or that Africans have traded?

I expect you are correct though I've seen 'the west' intervene in other nations' problems with corrupt leaders...?

Very difficult situations. Perhaps an attitude of gratitude for what we have and to do what we feel we can???

I worked for a firm that bought and sold commodites from/to a variety of African nations.

One particular transaction sticks in my mind. We refused to pay a bribe to get a cargo of 30,000 tonnes of cement into a West African port. Unfortunately cement is hydroscopic and absorbs moisture very quickly when on ships out at sea in tropical regions. The boat eventually sank in a storm as it got heavier and heavier and sat lower and lower in the water.

The oil trade is always a notoriously dirty business as indeed are many commodities.

We were an extremely ethical firm by the way.

There is of course gross corruption in Africa, some may say ABetaDad that it results from the colonial division of land into contrived nation states that suited the colonialists and took no account of ethnic origins. The colonialists 'chose' suitable tribal leaders and elders and placed them into positions of power and influence expecting them to respect the established colonial systems. Naturally some 'abused' the positions they were in.....

Well done on your fast, mumble.

I Agree with ABetaDad. Part of the reason Africa is in the sorry state it is in today is due to the corrupt fat cat leaders. There is wnough money and wealth in Africa alone for them to help out their own and provide the food and water the starving millions need. The division between the rich and the poor is utterly disgusting. The master I don;t think you can blame Colonialism. You really can't.

Well done on your fast mumble! Tha'ts really good.