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| Africa Horn |
| Ethiopia demands urgent food for millions |
| 2009-10-22 |
| TWENTY-five years after Ethiopia's famine killed a million people and spurred a massive global aid effort, the government has appealed for help for more than six million facing starvation. State Minister for Agriculture Mitiku Kassa said the country needed 159,000 tonnes of food aid worth $121 million between now and year's end for 6.2 million people. He said nearly 80,000 children under five were suffering from acute malnutrition and that $US9 million ($9.68 million) was required for moderately malnourished children and women. "Since... January, the country continues to face several humanitarian challenges in food and livelihood security, health, nutrition, and in water and sanitation," Mr Mitiku told donors. In a report to mark the 25th anniversary since the famine, Oxfam called for a change of strategy towards the human suffering in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country after Nigeria. It urged donors to focus on helping communities devise ways of preparing and dealing with disasters such as building dams to collect rain water to be used during dry seasons rather that sending emergency relief. The long-term strategies receive less than one per cent of international aid, Oxfam said. "Sending food aid does save lives, the dominance of this approach fails to offer long-term solutions which would break these cyclical and chronic crises," stated the report: Band Aids and Beyond. "We cannot make the rains come, but there is much more that we can do to break the cycle of drought-driven disaster in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa," Oxfam director Penny Laurence said. "Food aid offers temporary relief and has kept people alive in countless situations, but does not tackle the underlying causes that continue to make people vulnerable to disaster year-after-year." Of $US3.2 billion ($3.44 billion) of US aid to Ethiopia since 1991, 94 per cent is food which is delivered there rather than grown locally or imported from the region, said the aid group. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 To continue, the house is a ruin with no floors (they were 12 inch heart redwood and My uncle wanted them) then while we were at the funeral the house was robbed, Bastards even took the well pump, so there's no going back. I own what was the cow pasture, nice semi snallow bowl , Had a trailer and lived ther 30 years or so, then I was hit by thieves who robbed all they could and burned the trailer to the ground, The Sherrif and Fire Marshal caught them but all that was left was ashes, I plan one day to rebuild, but fraankly don't have the strength, (Had a stroke, not to harmful, I've recovered but I'm weak)so my daughter asked if she could put a Trailer there (Some "Trailer) it's a large modular and very nice. there's plenty of room left to Build on, but I can't buld right now, I currently live about 3 miles away and visit often. Sigh. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-10-22 23:03 |
| #7 RJ-condolences. I thnk most everybody has a 'Grannie' story that relates to yours; thanks. My Grannies both were very thrify ( pernoulious would be a compliment in their eyes) Dad's Mom taught me how to do in chickens for dinner that night, Mom's was at home behind the trusty Singer or in front of the stove inside a cloud of steam, canning whatever was in season. I am blessed because Mrs. Ret has those same traits and is passing down to grand-daughter Bekah. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2009-10-22 23:02 |
| #6 Sorry Besoaker she died at the age of 75, she had some loggers cut wood (Her income) and her good friend and neighbor from across the pasture noticed they were cutting down Pecan trees, she told Granny and granny was climbing the hill in a white hot rage, and suddenly fell over dead, her friend was a registered Nurse and tried, but she was dead before she hit the ground. I miss her. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-10-22 22:53 |
| #5 Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million in 1983 to 75.1 million in 2006. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-10-22 19:47 |
| #4 Jim, just two questions: 1. Is your granny still living? 2. Does she take in boarders? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-10-22 19:03 |
| #3 The whole truth of the matter is that "Work or Die" hasn't worked for generations, Welfare has kept the non-producers alive to multiply disastrously, My Grandmother had her own well, Garden, pecan trees, a Mulberry tree, a peach tree (Bartlett) and a small garden,three cows and one horse, Electricity and a dishwasher and well pump, (Which she kept turned off, she said she'd rather draw water, it kept her strong) she lived well if not financially wealthy by avoiding things that drained her wallet, such as Water bills, Large power bills and although she had a small pickup truck she drove little, just to church and the grocery store, She taught me how to can and preserve foods, and basic self sufficiency. Her type simply doesn't exist anymore (Short of the Mennonite and Amish) Everybody now buys everything and makes nothing then wonders why they're "Underprivileged". Me I stay at home as much as I can, when I go to the store I stock up on whatever we eat that's on sale and buy as little gas as possible, it helps but this country is set up so if I followed in My Grandmother's footsteps I'd be shunned as weird. Well I'm consiered weird anyway. but while it's easier to continue her lifestyle, it's very expensive to set up in the first place. Answer this please, could you garden in your yard(Front or back) or is it prohibited by your local laws? If i had to I could live like her and do fairly well, but I'd have to do it alone, none of my family would live like that by choice. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-10-22 17:10 |
| #2 1) why is Ethiopia in trouble again? 2) growing food locally is a great idea. Zimbabwe used to do that. They don't anymore. Why is that? Ditto other countries on the continent. The land is fertile. The people are industrious. They work hard (a third world person who doesn't work hard dies). They have technical knowledge or they can acquire it. Capital outlays for basic farming can be modest and can be within their means, or with but modest help from the West. So why isn't the continent self sufficient? I think I know why. Does Oxfam have the courage to say why? Thuggery. Politics. Thuggery. Socia!ism. Thuggery. Tribalism. Thuggery. Corruption. Thuggery. That's why. Until you fix those, all the food aid in the world won't matter. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-10-22 13:51 |
| #1 I thought reducing the human population was an important Greenie goal. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-10-22 13:04 |