As the cost-of-living crisis grips the UK, half way across the world another more deadly disaster is unfolding. A fourth season of failed rains is causing one of the worst droughts east Africa has seen in decades.
Ethiopia is battling the worst drought in almost half a century and in Somalia, 40 per cent of the population is at risk of starvation. Land is dry, dusty and barren, which is made worse by climate change.
Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite the fact it contributes only four per cent of global carbon emissions. For decades now we have seen that our inaction when rain does not fall would lead to the starvation of millions — I mean in the Eighties pop stars came together and asked “do they know it’s Christmas?” to get the West to care about children dying from malnutrition.
But it does not have to be like this. We have the power to save the lives of children like the 12-year-old who I saw on Facebook, so weak that she could not walk or stand. Somalis in the diaspora have been collecting funds for people like her.
The UK Government and others should not just be giving cash to those on the frontline trying to save lives. They should be working to make sure we give our expertise in combating climate change in the Horn of Africa and beyond. We in the West are the ones who have created and keep creating the mess that is contributing to the global warming that is killing millions.
I can’t tell you how distressing it is to watch people who look like you die when you know so many around you could do more. International non-governmental organisations and the international community do not lack the money to help. They lack the will.
Maybe it’s because the crisis in Africa is no longer on the front pages. Or maybe it’s because INGOs and the UN are not where we should be investing. NGOs like Oxfam have for years dominated the conversation, ringing the alarm only to use a fraction of what they are given to help those in need. I don’t mean to single out them here but they are the ones with employees who in a crisis have thought more about their own sexual needs than those who they are meant to be helping.
If we want to help the local people impacted by these disasters, we should give them the money. Because if we don’t take seriously the famine in East Africa, the impact will be a devastating death toll that will not only hang over us, but unsettle a continent which could play a key part in peace worldwide.
I really believe there is a deeper connection between the global north and south, you only have to look around our incredible city to see that. So working together beyond the aid agency narrative is the only way to ensure that we have a world that delivers for all. As an East African Londoner I am asking for us to come together and make a better future a reality.
In other news...
You know summer is almost here when you start seeing the ads for Love Island. Yes, that show many of us will introduce a curfew of 9pm for — so that we can be on the sofa to watch young people find love. I won’t lie, when it first started I mocked my friends for watching it, but it’s now as much a part of my summer as the tennis.
This year I will be feeling my age as one of the contestants is Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma. I thought he and I were the same age. I might have got that wrong. I only fancied him when he was playing for England and should have been at school like I was.
That said, the most exciting part of the show this year will be the move away from fast fashion — a staple of the show. So let’s get our water bottle ready for what will be an environmentally friendly show of young people seeking to get an Instagram blue tick and of course... love.
