Particularly at risk is Ethiopia, which is suffering from a severe drought and food shortage, bringing it dangerously close to the famine levels experienced in 1984-1985 when more than one million people died. IA quoted statistics from the U.S. Agency for International Development which indicate eight million Ethiopians are affected by severe drought and two million more might be affected if conditions remain dry. The items include food, medicine, hygiene kits and water purification tablets. More shipments are planned. The desperate situation is the result of three years of drought and civil and border wars.
Many children are at the brink of death.
There is a need for food, medicine and water. We need to be pro-active and meet these needs before there is another major famine. Complicating the situation is Ethiopia's border war with neighbor Eritrea. The renewed fighting has cost thousands of lives and wasted precious resources. Mission Network News noted in a story yesterday that interest in the Voice of Friendship radio programs which are broadcast in the Middle East indicates a growing evidence of people's hunger to seek God in highly Muslim-populated areas.