Growing up as a musician in South Africa I witnessed first hand the man-made obscenity that was apartheid and used music to protest against injustice. Apartheid is now consigned to the history books, but another obscenity still exists on our continent. A famine in Somalia that has killed 30,000 children in 3 months. Yet the current crisis is a man-made disaster that could … [Read more...]
Largest hospital for ‘gift of the givers’
Gift of the Givers has just been granted permission to set up base, medical teams, equipment and supplies at Banadir Hospital, the largest hospital in Mogadishu (the largest city in Somalia) where thousands of patients are flocking to from various refugee camps in and around Mogadishu and the South, and are in desperate need of life saving medical assistance. The absence of … [Read more...]
Another 600 tons for Somalia relief
South Africa's Ubuntu Spirit knows no bounds. We are indeed making an emphatic continental statement that Africa is coming to the aid of Africans unreservedly. The power is not in the proclamation but in the execution: being the first African agency and the only agency in the world to fly 6 planes into Mogadishu in a two week period delivering 112 tons of aid, gave a very good … [Read more...]
Famine in Somalia: A desperate call for help
"As the hunger took its toll a husband and wife left their two children in the 'forest'. They could not bear the thought of their children dying in front of their eyes nor did they want their children to sense that they (the parents) were dying". This is Somalia; a monumental African tragedy that requires an urgent, co-ordinated international response to alleviate a massive … [Read more...]
Famine stricken Somalia vs Climate Diplomacy at COP17
Realist Foreign Policy refers to the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states. It might seem strange that an article that opens with a line like this finds itself in an environmental publication. Yet, it is not strange at all, as environmental issues like climate change don't 'respect' state boundaries. There is an environmental side to … [Read more...]
Crisis in the Horn of Africa
Parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are facing one of the worst droughts for 60 years, and around 20 million people are desperately in need of food, clean water and basic sanitation. Many of the affected people are already living on the margins of survival due to conflict, displacement and chronic poverty. Drought is also not a new phenomenon to the region. However, this … [Read more...]
