Millions of hunger-afflicted in Niger and Chad - 1 Jun 2010  
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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/ALeqM5j0F5OTwrlQHsmFAEophT2TCrzEMAD9FVQDVG0
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE64O20H._CH_.2420
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/201052411573468704.html