Letter to your Senator

Ethiopia has been in the news a lot lately due to wide spread drought and the starvation accompanying it. If you have a moment, cut and paste the following letter into an email to your senator. It makes my heart hurt to read about the conditions over there.

Dear Senator,

I am writing to request your immediate, strong action in securing
emergency food aid from the U.S. government for the people of
Ethiopia.

With the failure of seasonal rains and rising food prices, Ethiopia
is facing one of the most serious food crises in recent history. This
crisis will continue months without immediate and large scale aid.
Doctors Without Borders and other trusted agencies are reporting
dramatic increases in lack of food, malnutrition, and starvation.

In a recent news report by the Associated Press, "the U.N.
children's agency characterized this year's food shortage; in which
an estimated 4.5 million people are in need of emergency food aid
as the worst since 2003, when droughts led 13.2 million people to
seek such aid. In 2000, more than 10 million needed emergency food."
Studies by the International Medical Corps in southern Ethiopia, the
epicenter of the crisis, show that up to one in four young mothers
is showing signs of moderate malnutrition.

UNICEF reports that an estimated 126,000 children are in need of
urgent treatment for severe malnutrition. Among children under five
years of age, six million face the risk of acute malnutrition.

This crisis is generating suffering that calls for intervention
now. In a population where more than 80% of the people live off the
land, food is the essential resource that ensures life for
Ethiopians. In the mid 80's the world moved too late to avert
starvation in Ethiopia. Conditions are worsening in Ethiopia. Please
help and insist that our government increase food aid and essential
non food aid to Ethiopia immediately.

The United States and Ethiopia benefit from a high degree of mutual
cooperation on several important fronts. Addressing critical levels
of hunger and malnutrition in Ethiopia must be a top priority in our
alliance with the Ethiopian people and our nation's global efforts to
end the food crisis in the world.

Thank you for your attention to this crisis. I am counting on your
action.

Sincerely,