Largest Humanitarian Crisis Since WWII

Picture is of the Kakuma Refugee Camp, NW Kenya

Renee and I are currently planning the details for our next trip to E. Africa.  The plans are to travel to Kenya the last week of October.  We will do a training event for pastors and who live and work in the Kakuma Refugee Camp.  David and other team members will work with pastors, while Renee and her helpers will teach women who are recognized as solid disciples and committed to sharing the Gospel with other women.

Much of our work thus far has been focused on the camps located in northern Uganda.  In part that is due to the fact that we live in Entebbe, Uganda from Nov. '09 to March '15.  So now it's time to return to the extreme NW of Kenya, an area we are very familiar with, as we worked with various Gospel workers over the years who focused on the Turkana and Toposa; the two major tribes of the area.

I have cut and pasted below part of an article which contains a report by the United Nations (UN).  I used the title of that article for this post.  The news is ominous: famine, starvation, the life long impact on children through malnutrition, etc.

What can we do?  Our commitment is to place as many scripture related resources into the hands of the church leaders with whom we partner, so that they can share the gospel, make disciples and plant churches in the midst of all this chaos and upheaval.  True peace does not mean the mere absence of war.  It comes only through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

UN: World Faces Largest Humanitarian Crisis Since World War II

The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, according to the United Nations.

“We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the UN’s Security Council last week.

While many countries worldwide face food security crises, with large numbers of people hungry and unable to find enough food, only rarely do the conditions meet the humanitarian community’s formal criteria for a famine, says the UN.

The UN declares a famine only when the following measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met: at least 20 percent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.

Other factors that may be considered include large-scale displacement, widespread destitution, disease outbreaks and social collapse.

Currently five countries are facing or are at risk of famine—Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia. Here is what you should know about each of these countries:

South Sudan

Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 4.9 million

Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed conflict that borders on genocide.

What’s preventing aid: Some UN officials have suggested the South Sudan government is blocking food aid to certain areas and that humanitarian convoys and warehouses have been attacked and being looted, either by government or rebel forces.

UN assessment: “The famine in the country is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop,” said Mr. O’Brien, who called on the South Sudanese authorities to translate their assurances of unconditional access into “action on the ground.”