“....we will have to take from the hungry to feed the starving....”

We are so heartened by the response to the crisis in Ukraine. 

An accessible toilet built as one of our
construction projects (one in each health post)

Thanks for those who have given to this response! As we said in our last post, Medair is also responding there. It appears that the response in Ukraine & Poland will quickly begin to rival, in cost, the largest Medair programmes in the DRCongo & South Sudan. The response to the Ukraine crisis, of providing aid to all organizations, has been overwhelmingly generous. 

We heard an interview with Paulo Grandi, the UNHCR High Commissioner for Refugees, the other day. He passionately pleaded for the world to extend that same generosity to the ongoing crisis situations in our world - places like Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. The media spotlight moving from these responses to Ukraine simply means that these other crises can be forgotten by the majority. 

Here is an article on the drought in Somalia: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/somalia-risks-repeating-2011-famine-drought-tightens-grip-horn/. This articles makes the startling statement (about Somalia) that we are hearing more and more frequently in the humanitarian aid sector, "...we will have to take from the hungry to feed the starving...." 

A recently constructed drain behind
the new building in Camp 20

The article talks about the multiple factors that have come together to create the current crisis in Somalia: long drought, locust swarms, a challenging security situation, the pandemic - and now the global crisis of grain stocks due to the war in Ukraine. These factors are largely beyond the control of those who suffer from them. And yet, suffer they will. 

The article quotes a local trader about the rise in prices in Mogadishu: “'A week ago, the 20-litre jerrycan of cooking oil was $25, today it’s about $50,' Mohamed Osman, a trader, told Agence France-Presse last week. 'A litre of gasoline was $0.64 and today it runs about $1.80 – it’s crazy.'” More people around the world will be facing the question of what they spend their money on: food, medicine, transport or other essential services. This is simply the precarity of many people in the world currently. And while we have no doubt that all of you are also suffering from rising prices, we know that Christine & I aren't faced with the choice of whether to buy food or buy medicine - the heartbreaking choice of so many in our world. 

An Iftar meal with current & former staff

One of the things that we have found gratifying about relating to all of you is that you are unusually aware of the realities in our world, more so than most people in the countries where you live. This has been one of the privileges of relating to you for these years! Thanks for your support as we walk with those living on the edge in our world!

Praise: 

• For the finishing of all the construction work! We were able to finish the accessible toilets in both of our health posts - improving access (which was one of our objectives for this period) for the mobility challenged as they come for health services. 
• For the ongoing successes in the closing down of the Medair BGD programme!
• For the reports that are being finished by the health project manager and the monitoring & evaluation officer. 
• For a great Iftar meal (the meal that Muslims have at night fall to break their Ramadan fast for that day) with staff.
• For the resurrection of Jesus who died to bring greater shalom to our world!

Prayer:

• For Christine's health as she has gotten some sort of nasty stomach bug. 
• For Christine, who is writing the 'story' of Medair's health & nutrition work over the past 4.5 years - a huge process which includes the current evaluation activities.
• For a future with hope for the Rohingya - this looks all the more impossible given the realities in Myanmar, humanly speaking.
• For the situation in Somalia and other countries in crisis - how are you being asked to repond?