Prolonged
drought since harvest time last year has parched crops, leaving
millions of people facing food shortages across Africa’s Sahel region.
On Friday, May 28, the United Nations World Food Program warned that 10
million people will be facing hunger over the next three months,
primarily in Niger and Chad, with numbers that could worsen if rains
don’t arrive in time for the September harvest.
While some 8
million are affected in Niger, representing almost half the nation’s
population, the 2 million experiencing food shortages in Chad could be
considered worse afflicted because the region has received so little
international attention. In both countries, children are some of the
most affected.
A recent UN report on Chad stated, “As always,
children will be the first ones to suffer and, if nothing is done,
they
will be the first to die.” Some are migrating to places like the
Nigerian city of Katsina where they often beg for food while seeking
work to support their families.
Meanwhile, aid agencies like
Oxfam are distributing cereals and grains, with Niger’s government also
sending out 21,000 tons of food in an attempt to provide adequate
sustenance until the next supplies or rains arrive.
Many thanks,
United Nations World Food Program and other agencies as well as all the
government and non-governmental efforts for your constant support and
donations to comfort those most in need.
We pray for the
blessing of abundant gentle rain and that the lives of African brethren
stricken by these harrowing events of drought and hunger may soon be
eased through humanity’s benevolent actions toward all beings on Earth.
Speaking
during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai
addressed the treacherous tolls of global warming in Africa while
reminding of the actions needed to reverse such changes and stabilize
the planet.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Sadly,
global warming is affecting African countries in all the severest and
some of the most visible ways. Rivers and lakes are drying up in Africa.
There are water crises from Sierra Leone to South Africa.
Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Sudan – just to name a few
– are experiencing worsened droughts that make it difficult to plant
crops, thus adding to food shortages and prices rising.
There
are more frequent droughts, heat waves, floods, storms, frosts, freezes,
and locusts than before. These impacts of climate change increase food
insecurity and the food crisis in Africa.
The United Nations is
afraid that hundreds of millions of people in Africa are at risk. So let
us try our best to help remind and encourage our leaders to do
something.
If the world becomes vegan as a group, we can remedy
the disasters that affect us globally.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j0F5OTwrlQHsmFAEophT2TCrzEMAD9FVQDVG0http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE64O20H._CH_.2420http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/201052411573468704.html
E-mail this to a Friend
Print
suprememastertv.com