Three million seven hundred thousand people in this nation of 11 million are at severe risk of starvation. Conditions in South Sudan now parallel those of Ethiopia in the 1980s when hundreds of thousands died from famine. Toby Lanzer, the UN official coordinating humanitarian aid in South Sudan says “we’re in a race against time”.
Aside from the urgent immediate need the civil war currently raging in South Sudan, which was the initial cause of the problems, the planting season is at risk and a lack of crops will further ad to the already dire situation. With possibly over 4 million displaced people, what is needed is food, water, shelter and protection.
This is a very rough start for one of the worlds youngest nations and I encourage you to help. Another aspect to consider is that a very large number of the displaced are children, thousands are orphans. The majority are women and children: some have been victimized. Most of the refugees who have fled South Sudan are in Ethiopia.
Aid organizations helping South Sudan refugees include
• The UN High Commissioner for refugees
• OXFAM [email protected]
• Doctors without borders [email protected]