7th July
Famine in the horn of Africa hit the headlines this week for a brief moment before such more apparently newsworthy items such as phone tapping by ruthless multi millionaire media moguls took over plus news of a Royal visit to Canada costing millions ( what about a Royal visit to Ethiopia?) plus news of another daily batch of cruise missiles sent into Afghanistan at $1 million dollars a chuck .
Forecasts of the effects of this continued drought have been on the in tray desks of world leaders for months but here we go again with emergency appeals, news of appalling suffering especially amongst children, our fellow human beings on this planet, dying like flies, abandoned and forgotten.
No apparent store of emergency food packed and ready over there, no evidence of investment in the infrastructure that is needed to avoid such a crisis ... water well provision, sand/cement barriers to assist storage of water and the like... we sit by and allow a bunch of thugs and mis guided government officials in Somalia to wreck the lives of a nation... however no oil, no western financial interests so down the list of priorities.
It is not just a question of giving money.. although this does help! ... the need for self sustaining initiatives of projects that will make that long term difference plus a lot more resources into peace making efforts by those who have the expertise. Will we ever learn to put compassion before profit?
Ian Robertson
Oak Tree Trust
