What do 11 million people look like?
[there is no picture here because starvation porn scares me]
In the Horn of Africa right now, people are starving. Some of them to death. Hopefully you know this, have seen it on the news, read about it in the paper, or even better, made a donation to an organisation trying to help save lives.
The current drought/famine/food crisis [insert scary word for Not Enough Food] is affecting over 11 million people in a part of the world which is challenging to live in, to say the least, let alone now with no rain.
This crisis is consuming me right now. I read about it all day, every day for work. I see it on the news when I am jogging on a treadmill to try and curb the excesses of my wealthy lifestyle. But at the end of the day, it can get a bit overwhelming.
Which is why I look at CARE’s flickr photostream - to remind myself what 11 million people look like. They look like individual people. Kids, parents, mums, babies, workers. Of course they do. But sometimes, it’s hard to really get it.
The BBC have put together a handy ‘East Africa hunger crisis FAQ guide’ which is helpful.
Update: The famine in Somalia finally made the front page of the New York Times (and a debate instigated by Bill Easterly broke out on twitter about the image used - what do you think?)
And of course you can donate here.
