Professional Global Contact-Save the Children-East Africa

Save the Children is an organization with a rich and long history that invests in childhood every day, in times of crisis, and for our future around the globe including United States. They give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm.  Eglanyne Jebb founded the Save the Children Fund in England in 1919 to aid children in war-ravaged central Europe. Today the organization and its members  worldwide help children in 120 countries, providing support for health and nutrition, education, protection, disaster relief and so much more giving children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves -- a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and care when disaster strikes. They often save children’s lives. Their target areas of focus include Nutrition, Maternal and Reproductive Health, Newborn Health, Child Health, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Health and Nutrition in Emergencies. In 2014, Save the Children helped 166 million children in 120 countries and led to 7.5 million lifesaving health interventions for children in 34 countries. Their education programs  reached 11.8 million children around the world. I found this awe-striking and quite inspiring.

As  I explored their blog, I came across Ethiopia: "It's Heartbreaking to See my People Suffer Like This" by Seifu Asseged, Communications Coordinator, Ethiopia's Somali Region, February 18, 2016. Mr. Asseged talks about “the stench of rotting animal carcasses, spread across the barren land.   I remember watching large animals - cows and donkeys - take their last gasping breaths as they grew weak from nothing to eat or drink.” He talks about his experiences as he travels across the communities that have been hit the hardest by the worst drought in 50 years assessing the needs of his people. After one assignment last August, his team discovered an entire community in desperate need of water. Within days, they had organized for large quantities of water to be trucked to that area, reaching thousands of people. Now the challenges are different, and the needs even more pressing. Six months ago (August, 2015) the number of people in need of food aid in Ethiopia was 4.5 million, but that figure had increased to more than 8 million by October, 2015). Now it stands at 10.2 million. Furthermore, 400,000 children could fall prey to severe malnutrition in 2016. Seifu Asseged states, “It is heartbreaking to see my homeland, and my people, suffering so much right now. I have never experienced anything like this drought before. Sometimes telling these stories can bring vital, practical outcomes for people in need. Sometimes they change the world. I hope this story will fall somewhere between the two.” This broke my heart as I tried to put myself in his shoes. I cannot imagine such an experience even though I know it happens around the globe.

News releases state that millions of children are at risk going hungry as the result of a worsening food crisis in Ethiopia. Schools are closing, livestock are dying, and wells are drying up. The child hunger crisis has been brought about by a severe drought across normally green and productive regions making this among the worst disaster natural disasters in recent history. At least 350,000 children are already severely malnourished, which if left untreated, can cause stunting, physical and mental delays in their development, or death. The issues that children in Ethiopia face are some of the most challenging in the world. Even in an "average" year, the education, health and economic situation for millions of Ethiopian children can only be described as a crisis. Frequent food shortages and periodic drought-like conditions continue to put children at risk. With inadequate health care services, many children die before reaching the age of 5. Of those that survive, only a fraction of children attend primary or secondary school. Save the Children is working in over 70% of the worst-affected districts, providing food, water, medicine and crucial support to children and families. Save the Children has implemented cross-cutting strategies that focus on education, health, food security, HIV/AIDS prevention/education and saving newborn lives. There is a link for people around the globe to make donations to help fund and broaden their relief efforts as well as a link for sponsoring a child.

Poverty is an issue world-wide that negatively influences the health and development of all children and influences society as well. I was just thinking that if everyone in the world that is financially capable could continuously sponsor one child through Save the Children, what a difference that could make.

Reference

Save the Children (2016). Retrieved http://www.savethechildren.org/ site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.B143/Official_USA_Site.htm

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