The news of the epic tragedy in the Horn of Africa is unfolding at a painfully slow pace. While hundreds of thousands of famine victims desperately cling to life, their extreme pain and suffering is going largely unnoticed by the rest of the world.

In response to the massive famine that threatens 12 million people in the Horn of Africa – including Somalia, Northern Kenya and Eastern Ethiopia – the Salesians have undertaken several major projects that could save up to 36,000 lives.

The cost of these emergency programs is expected to be $850,000 – which translates to just $23.61 for each person helped. So far, we have raised about a third of the needed funds and are hopeful that the remaining amount will come in soon as caring friends and donors learn of the crisis.

A massive tragedy is unfolding in northern Africa. The worst food crisis of the past century is forcing 12 million people to seek desperate measures to survive. Conditions are worse than the famine of 1984-85 when approximately 1 million people in Ethiopia and Sudan died.

Our missionaries in Kakuma, Kenya, report that some communities are completely without food and people have started to die. As a short term fix, the Salesians have purchased some food items – including beans, corn, flour and cooking oil – for immediate distribution.