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children are always worst hit...always

i couldn't eat lunch today...cos right there in the canteen, cnn was beaming to the world the current process of an infant's life in somalia. pictures that i could not understand...

1. many young children are saddled with the responsibility for infant siblings when the parents die on the long trek to the nearest refugee camp in neighbouring countries. they often arrive malnourished with the infants near death


2. the refugee camps are themselves not in the best conditions. with 2,000 persons arriving daily the provisions in this camps are stretched beyond capacity five times over.



3. half the time, there is no food even in the camps and the memories of all the loved ones lost on the way can prove too much even for the surviving relative. with no hope for the next meal, water or basic hygiene the death toll in refugee camps is in itself alarming...


4. more than 2 million children are presently at risk of dying. malnourished to the point of no return, many of the doctors and aid workers can only watch the infants as they wait to breathe their last


5. anticipating the death of a child does nothing to reduce the pain...no actor can replicate true anguish



6. as there are no facilities, family members bury their dead in hastily dug graves oftentimes over the bones of another recently buried child


according to CNN, UNICEF is asking for $31.8 million over the next three months for relief efforts. The money will help provide therapeutic treatment for women and children with severe malnutrition, access to clean drinking water and vaccinations to prevent deadly diseases like measles and polio. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/20/iyw.howtohelp.somalia.famine/index.html

please find a way to do something. (100 US dollars is roughly 1,700 naira), i know you can help somehow. if i find out how local help is being arranged from nigeria, i will communicate. however, if you walk into any unicef office or red cross, they can direct you. i know we have our own problems, but saving a life is never too much...or too early.

Comments

Wilfred Mong said…
Sorry sight.
Sometimes, it's better they'd died in the war than to die of starvation at refugee camps.

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