Food Shortages

People in Ethiopia are starving, again.  Woliayta (the region where our kids are from) is one of the hardest hit areas.  It breaks my heart to think that Mesalech and the boys are there… hungry.  Here is one of the articles I found:

 

Number of hungry in Ethiopia jumps to 6.4 million

10 Oct 2008 00:01:09 GMT

Source: Reuters

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The number of Ethiopians needing emergency food assistance has jumped to 6.4 million from 4.6 million in June, the aid agency Oxfam said on Friday.

Drought and high food prices have both contributed to the worsening crisis in Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa like Somalia and north Kenya, aid workers say.

Oxfam, citing U.N. figures, said there was a $260 million shortfall for agencies trying to address Ethiopia's crisis.

"Compared with the funds going to shore up the global financial system, the aid needed to save lives in Ethiopia is a drop in the ocean," Oxfam's country director Waleed Rauf said.

While government figures showed 6.4 million people needed emergency assistance, more than 13.5 million were in need of some sort of aid, Oxfam said. "The number of those suffering severe hunger and destitution has spiraled," Rauf said. (Reporting by Barry Malone, editing by Tim Pearce)

 

 

Sometimes it feels hopeless.  And it is really hard to feel hopeless about “family”.