For Americans, blue skies mean outdoor sports and BBQs. In Niger, blue skies are digging graves.
A famine, sparked by a severe and prolonged drought, has dried up the region's lean sources of food, killing livestock and laying waste to successive harvests. The World Food Programme is doing what it can, but reports from the country show there are simply not enough vital supplies to help the 7.9 million people in danger of starvation. John Holmes, the UN aid chief, said: "There is an urgent need to scale up food aid, fodder for the animals of pastoralists and nutritional support for the most vulnerable parts of the population, particularly the children."
An urgent call for support came to us from Mohamed Ixa, the Tuareg who guided our trek across the desert in the film, Running the Sahara. This is his home. These are his family.
Here's how you can help. Through the generous work of Jeff Peterson (the doctor in Running the Sahara) and his organization, Sahara Relief, we can send a truck-full of food to the hard-hit Tidene Valley for only $3000. That means 100 donations of only $30 can save lives RIGHT NOW. And Mohamed has pledged members of his organization to oversee every step of the process to ensure 100% of our donations get food into the mouths of the hungry.
If you prefer to mail a check, please send it to:
SaharaRelief
701 Welch Road #C
Palo Alto, CA 94304
