Famine - how can we help?

Who hasn't at some point in their life - 10 minutes before dinner, or after a long recreational hike, enthusiastically said "I'm STARVING!"? Yet, most of us comfortably eat 3-5 meals a day.

On the other side of the world, children and adults really ARE starving to death. I could write long articles about the fact that famine is a symptom of much deeper political and social problems... but this is neither the time nor the place (and besides, such articles already exist). Instead, I would like to encourage you and your family to think about how YOU can help the needy, the hungry this Holiday season.

An article was recently featured on Yahoo that showed the amazing transformation of a little starving 7-month-old Somali boy who was brought to a rescue camp. With food and expert care, he now is plump and healthy. Without FOOD he would have died.



Take a deep breath.



Ok, now scroll down.









"BEFORE":

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 file photo, then seven month old Minhaj Gedi Farah is treated in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Dadaab, Kenya. In this picture he weighs just over 7lbs. In July, Minhaj was one of dozens of limp babies under mosquito net shrouds in the sweltering wards of the IRC hospital in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, but after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age.

Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011 file photo, after 10 days of intensive feeding and care

"AFTER":

In this photo released by the International Rescue Committee, Minhaj Gedi Farah is held in the arms of his mother Asiah Dagane in the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital in Dadaab, Kenya Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. ...after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age.

Several months of food and care have brought him back to life! 

How can YOU help this Holiday season? Can you give up a gift, or two, or four, or ten? Can you make a family dinner a little less elaborate? Would your family consider cutting out Christmas gifts altogether? 

Give a family in need a goat or other livestock (http://www.heifer.org/). 

Sponsor a child (http://www.hopechest.org/). 

Help build a well (http://www.charitywater.org/). 

Pack a shoe box for a child in another country (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/). 

There is so much, for every budget, that you CAN do. 

Photo Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somalia-famine-baby-back-brink-death-153615392.html