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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| West African Famine |
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| timbuktu |
| 07/23/05 at 06:57:17 |
| [slm] children shown starving to death in West Africa by BBC News. it isn't just Niger. Mali, Mauritania, and three other countries in West Africa facing famine Children are dying of starvation in feeding centres in Niger, where 3.6m people face severe food shortages, aid agencies have warned. The crisis in the south of the country has been caused by a drought and a plague of locusts which destroyed much of last year's harvest. Aid agency World Vision warns that 10% of the children in the worst affected areas could die. They say the international community has reacted too late to the crisis. Niger is a vast desert country and one of the poorest on earth. Millions of people, a third of the population, face food shortages. We're completely overwhelmed... the response has been desperately slow Milton Tetonidis Medecins Sans Frontieres Families are roaming the parched desert looking for help. One family we came across did not even know where they were going. "I'm wandering like a madman," the father said. "I'm afraid we'll all starve." They were hundreds of miles from the nearest food distribution point. Aid agencies estimate that tens of thousands of children are in the advanced stages of starvation. Children are dying daily in the few feeding centres there are, where their place in the queue could make the difference between life and death. 'Not equal' Amina is so starved she cannot eat even if she wants to. "She vomits as soon as I give her food or water," says her mother. "As far as I'm concerned, God did not make us all equal - I mean, look at us all here. None of us has enough food." A severe drought last year, combined with a plague of locusts, destroyed much of the crop that was needed to feed the people and the cattle they rely on. Now, across the windswept plains of the Sahel, carcasses of cattle litter the landscape. Rains have come - but so late they are now a curse, bringing malaria and other disease. Little foreign aid has come into the country to deal with this crisis so far. Aid agencies in the country predict the situation will get worse in the coming months and say the world has responded too late. "There are children dying every day in our centres," says Milton Tetonidis of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). "We're completely overwhelmed, there'd better be other people coming quickly to help us out - I mean, the response has been desperately slow." UN bodies and NGOs are appealing for donations through their websites. The hunger in Niger was predicted months ago - but that did nothing to prevent the present disaster. It did nothing to save Rabilou, a tiny child afflicted by starvation and infection, who died within a few hours of our arrival. Britain has provided £2m ($3.5m) in aid to charities to help feed some 20,000 children and 250,000 adults in Niger, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn told the BBC. Hilary Andersson's second report on Niger's food crisis was broadcast on the BBC's Ten O'Clock News on Tuesday 19 July at 2100GMT. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4695355.stm Here is a link to some pictures: |
| 07/23/05 at 07:07:57 |
| timbuktu |
| Re: West African Famine |
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| timbuktu |
| 07/23/05 at 08:28:09 |
| [slm] Here is what MuslimHands has to say: [center][size=4]EMERGENCY Relief Efforts in Niger and Mali[/size][/center] The current situation is Niger's worst food crisis since 1984, with 3.5 million people facing starvation and children dying every day in the South. Much of the country lies in the Sahara Desert and has suffered severe drought over the past few years. More recently, locusts have attacked what little vegetation remained. Starving livestock, on which people in this region depend, are now also dying in large numbers. Niger's neighbour Mali has also suffered severe drought and locust invasions, again causing massive food shortages for 1.5 million people. The Niger government says that at least 3.5 million people are suffering from food shortages and 150,000 children are severely malnourished in the regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder. The problem is exacerbated by rocketing food prices in a country where two-thirds of the population live on less than $1 per day. Experienced Emergency Response Teams from Muslim Hands Sudan (Darfur) and Muslim Hands Gambia are working with local partners to distribute food supplies in southern Niger and to immediately source drinking water. Muslim Hands has already allocated £100000 to the crisis but much more is needed. Please donate generously. +44 (0)115 911 7222 |
| Re: West African Famine |
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| BrKhalid |
| 07/24/05 at 03:20:47 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum Given the riches in this world I simply couldn't believe when I heard about the pictures of the Muslim woman having to feed her children a dead rat out of extreme hunger and even then having to cut it up carefully so she could ensure each child got a piece. Thanks Br timbuktu for raising this. |
| Re: West African Famine |
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| lala |
| 07/25/05 at 08:48:52 |
| [slm] Good post ...Food like health care should be free and available to all. NO reason for any of this.....When we throw away food daily...... |
| Re: West African Famine |
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| ummnajmah |
| 07/27/05 at 06:36:44 |
| [slm]I do not know whether muslims realize this or not but a Huge population of the people in West Africa are muslims! We need to make dua for them and do the best we can to pressure our muslim communities to send assistance. We need to organize ourselves to action and find out exactly how to go about helping them within our communities.Where are the muslim nations at this point which can help these poor muslims?.They are crying for help and we cannot look the other way and think to leave this to someone else. I tell you the first people to reach this people usually are the christian missionaries and when people are weak they are can easily be taken advantage of. They deliver them in the name of Issa Bin Maryam(Jesus) (May Allah Have Mercy on him), astaghfirullah!. How do these muslim feel when the 1st people to help them are not their muslim bros/sisters? How are we going to face Allah(SWT) when we cannot reachout and help our muslim bros/sisters? We should not sell ourselves short for every little bit we can do counts!I don't know how anyone can sleep after seeing the photos of Niger people starving! I have yet to see the media pick it up here in the US, I myself caught this several times on BBC. May Allah(SWT) have mercy on these muslims and provide them with the relief they need. |
| Re: West African Famine |
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| ummnajmah |
| 07/27/05 at 06:41:38 |
| [quote author=timbuktu link=board=ummah;num=1122116237;start=0#1 date=07/23/05 at 08:28:09] [slm] Here is what MuslimHands has to say: Experienced Emergency Response Teams from Muslim Hands Sudan (Darfur) and Muslim Hands Gambia are working with local partners to distribute food supplies in southern Niger and to immediately source drinking water. Muslim Hands has already allocated £100000 to the crisis but much more is needed. Please donate generously. +44 (0)115 911 7222 [/quote] Do we have a number here in the US to donate money to? |
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