Anyone over thirty will be able to recall the horrifying pictures of starving children with distended bellies and despair-ridden faces that came back from Ethiopia during the 1984 – 1985 famine. In a land known for its cyclic droughts and periods of famine, that particular disaster still looms large in the minds of the entire world as it managed to kill nearly one million people. Children across America were guilted into finishing their meals with admonishments that invariably ended with the phrase "those starving children in Africa". And, unfortunately, it looks like a new generation of American children may hear that haunting phrase as recurring drought, high population growth, deforestation, degraded soils, and political unrest have combined to once again put millions of Ethiopian and African people from other drought stricken countries in jeopardy of their very lives.

Governmental requests for help have been coming out of Kenya and Ethiopia in a flood in the last several months in an effort to stave off the impending crisis. Predictions by global weather experts show no hope of rain coming soon enough or in enough quantities to avert certain disaster. Independent agencies such as the Christian Childrens’ Fund, Save the Children U.S., and Catholic Relief Service and Care have mobilized their staffs to raise badly needed international help. This push has come after independent surveys and verification of the governments’ claims were made by those agencies. Those verification efforts were needed as some reporters such as Jean-Baptiste Naudent of The Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg are claiming that Ethiopia, which has been at war with its neighbor Eritrea since May of 1998, is falsifying its claims so that it can continue to put the bulk of its governmental funds into the war effort. Although that is not a widely held belief, it is true that the Ethiopian/Eritrea conflict has hindered the delivery of relief supplies as Ethiopia has been landlocked since Eritrea declared its independence. Over the past several months, Ethiopia has refused to allow supplies to be shipped through the Eritrean port of Assab although Eritrea agreed to the arrangement. The international community has since donated funds, including the U.S.’ $600,000, to upgrade the port facilities and highway at Djibouti Port. Some critics of the Ethiopian government claim that the enlargement of the port’s facilities was Ethiopia’s aim in claiming such need in the first place. Whether that is true or not, Ethiopia will now be able to receive large shipments of aid without having to rely upon Eritrea’s good will and cooperation.

Despite the cynics claims of inflated reports and military planning behind the aid requests, more balanced views agree that the African famine, though perhaps aggravated by entire populations being displaced by the war and inefficient government distribution of supplies, is the result of a combination of complicated factors. Paul Jeffrey in an article distributed via Africa News Online entitled "Action By Churches Together," claims that poor farming techniques, poor land management, and a change in rural lifestyle from herding camels to raising cattle that, though worth more at market, are much more susceptible to drought conditions, are major factors in the country’s inability to feed its rapidly growing population. Such factors were recognized after the 1984 – 85 disaster and steps were taken to try and prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. A high-tech early-warning system was put into place that includes sophisticated data gathering on weather patterns, food harvests, and social indicators. The country’s infrastructure has been upgraded to allow better relief supply distribution and more leeway has been given to relief organizations and donor nations. The Food Security Reserve was also established in 1992 in an effort to cut down on the three-to-nine month delay in the presentation of relief supplies. A massive stockpile of food was established to enable needy areas to be provided with the essentials in a timely fashion. The system worked well for most of the ’90s, but suffered a serious setback last year when several food loans were not repaid. The Food Security Reserve is now trying to meet the current needs of eight million Ethiopians with less than 50,000 metric tons of food when there should be more than 370,000 and conditions are worsening steadily. According to a recent release by the Christian Children’s Fund, ninety-five percent of the people’s livestock upon which they depend for their livelihood have already died in some of the areas hardest hit by the failure of the rains. Entire villages must walk more than fives miles to the nearest water source, some of which are becoming polluted by the dying carcasses of livestock the villagers do not have the strength or will to shift. The old, the infirm, and the very young are already beginning to succumb to the shortages. The tell-tale distended bellies of children suffering from malnutrition are becoming more and more prevalent. Some estimates state that as many as one in four children are already suffering severe physical effects as most are now down to one small meal a day. School attendance has fallen off dramatically as the children no longer have the energy to attend classes.

Although the country’s prospects currently look dim as the rains continue to refuse to fall, help is on the way from the international community. On April 24, The Fairbanks, a U.S. vessel with more than 85,000 metric tons of relief commodities arrived in the port of Djibouti. Another shipment of U.S. aid will arrive in early May. The U.S. government has pledged more than 400,000 metric tons of food to be delivered between April and early August, 90,000 tons of which will be used to repay the Ethiopian government’s loan from the Food Security Reserve (FSR). Israel, the Netherlands, and several over countries have also pledged or contributed aid to the needy countries.

More help is needed, however, as the scope of the impending disaster is staggering. If intervention efforts are not multiplied soon, help will come too late to prevent serious physical and psychological damage to the population of these drought stricken countries. Many organizations such as the Catholic Relief Services, Christian Childrens’ Fund, Save the Children U.S., and others are kicking their fund drives into high gear. It has been estimated that less than four dollars per person is required to provide adequate food to stave off the effects of starvation and malnutrition. The needed aid may not arrive, however, as the news media has not made any concerted effort to raise social awareness of the approaching calamity. We have the knowledge and the power to affect the lives of millions of individuals who stand in need of our aid. We can prevent Africa’s current problems from escalating into a disaster of horrifying proportions if we simply act now. Let’s do what we can to prevent another generation of American children from having to bear the guilt for their starving brothers and sisters in Africa.