I've been known to drop the occasional expletive, but the most offensive F word to me is not the one that goes f***. It's F***** -- the famine happening in Somalia.
Drought, violence and political instability have invited in the grim reaper on a scale we have not seen in 20 years... more than 30,000 children have died in just three months. The pictures from Dadaab look like a nightmare from centuries past. Yet, this is the 21st century and these pictures are real and, on the whole, unseen. The food crisis in the Horn of Africa is nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe, but it is getting less attention than the latest Hollywood break-ups and make-ups.
ONE's new film The F Word: Famine is the Real Obscenity isn't a typical emotional emergency appeal. It's about focusing the media spotlight on the tragedy unfolding. It's about building political support in the US and around the world for interventions that will stop the suffering today and break the cycle of famine in the future. Most of all, it's about taking action -- because famine is man-made.
Of course it's complex, and solutions are difficult -- especially in Somalia where there has not been a formal government for 20 years. But that is not an excuse for the world to look the other way. Most of us (thankfully) have no experience of starvation, but we do know what it's like to lose someone you love. Each of those 30,000 children was someone's daughter or son, someone's sister or brother. If you look at reports from the Horn, there are stories of mothers having to decide which child to feed and which to let die; women leaving their children's bodies on the side of the road as they walk for weeks in search of food and water for those still fighting for life.
History shows there are ways to prevent drought from becoming famine, even though it's complicated. So check out the film and sign ONE's petition to world leaders calling on them to live up to promises already made to invest in things proven to work... early warning systems... irrigation... drought resistant seeds... and of course, peace and security. At ONE.org there's more explanation and information. And while ONE doesn't solicit funding, if you want to give money, you can find links to other organizations providing emergency assistance in the Horn who need all the support they can get.
Adrian Lovett: The F-word: Why we did it
Famine | Global development | The Guardian
Famine Hits Somalia in World Less Likely to Intervene - NYTimes.com
Famine in East Africa: How you can help - CNN.com
Africa famine experts: 800000 children may die - CBS News
Behind Africa's famine, more than just drought Famine isn't ...
just days ago you were complaining about people in the US on food stamps buying name brand groceries.
no one is responsible for the shame you feel but yourself.
Adding more food won't help this man made problem.
You can't ask others to give what little they have when you have so much to give and refuse to. Heck form a PAC to influence the Presidential elections and Congressional races in the US.
What are you willing to give up to accomplish your goal?
So now he makes gobs more in Holland!
Way to help his own people out. Took jobs and taxes that they desperately need.
I won't listen to another word he says and will never support any U2 music or concerts anymore.
I'm ashamed they are Irish!
What is really bad, is that this same source of food, was grown extensively, by many of our founding fathers, who encouraged all farmers to grow it. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights was written on paper made from the same plant.
Yes, I'm talking about the sister-plant to marijuana...., Hemp. {which will not get people high.}
A handful of hempseeds, once a day, provides all the necessary nutrients for any adult to sustain themselves. It is even more nutritious than soy because it digests easier.
For more information, please read the following link. You might be amazed at what this miracle plant is capable of, and we can't grow it, because of lies spread by Big oil, petrol-chemical companies, the timber industry and cotton farmers, and many other related industries.
Educating the public is the key to allow us to produce the most nutritious food source in the world.
No one should be going hungry....,
http://www.hemphasis.net/Nutrition/nutrition.htm
By the way..., I been a fan of U2 since 1980......., best music in the world , imo......,
People can also look up Gruel which, in its original form, was made with Marijuana seeds. The breakfast of champions for over a thousand years.
It's also the fastest growing plant in the first 90 days of growth putting down a 3 foot tap root. So any land that has suffered from erosion and mudslides (say after a forest fire) would be much better with a growth of Marijuana on hillsides than the current use of Rye grass.
the Federal Government !
Politics allows the DEMS to simply ignore Death every day !
Make the Economic Pie Larger, Please !