How SOS has Responded to the East Africa Crisis 

Waiting for water

December 1, 2011: Since our Emergency Relief Program got underway across the Horn of Africa last July, SOS Children’s Villages has helped save lives and improve living conditions for in excess of 70,000 of the worst-affected victims of famine, through the provision of medical services, food, water and other essential supplies.

Emergency medical services are being provided at camps for internally displaced people in Mogadishu and in the Bay region of southern Somalia. Here, therapeutic feeding programs have saved the lives of thousands of children and mothers who also receive vital vaccines and treatment for various conditions such as diarrhea, measles and malaria. The distribution of food and other essential commodities is being constantly adapted to suit the unique requirements of famine victims in each of the three countries in which SOS Children’s Villages operates emergency programs.

View the recent video below which provides an overview of conditions at the Badbado IDP camp in Mogadishu.

Listen to the Interview with Hilary Atkins as she describes the situation in Marsabit, Kenya.

In Marsabit, Kenya, 3,000 children who risked starvation last July have since been fed every day, thanks to the SOS School Feeding Program. Regular delivery of drinking water is provided to schools and villages as required – something that brought thousands back from the brink of certain death. Almost 2,000 of the poorest drought affected families continue to purchase vital provisions through the use of the unique SOS electronic smart card, which provides a fully efficient, transparent and secure alternative to the standard more costly systems of food distribution. Local health services are also supported by SOS Children's Villages through the provision of free drugs and supplies.

Food continues to be distributed on a regular basis in Gode, Ethiopia, where the provision of water purification chemicals was deemed essential. Microcredit programs have already reduced the scale of the problem. The poverty stricken people of Gode – in common with their counterparts in Somalia and Kenya – constantly express gratitude for the help and hope they receive from SOS Children’s Villages.

You can help bring more hope to those suffering in East Africa. Make a donation today or sponsor a child in East Africa.

  • $76 can provide a 1.5 month supply of therapeutic nutritional products to nurse a severely malnourished child back to health
  • $64 can buy a monthly supply of (culturally appropriate) food for a family of six
  • $300 a month can help up to four mothers a day to give birth under the professional care of a trained midwife
  • $1500 can pay the monthly salary of a pediatrician, $2000 can pay the monthly salary of an obstetrician / gynecologist