Pretoria - As famine spreads throughout Somalia, South Africans have opened their hearts to the hungry people in the Horn of Africa.
"South African society have opened their hearts for their suffering brethren in Africa; from business, children, churches , schools from Alex, everyone come out ... this is truly an African response to an African problem," Allauddin Sayed from humanitarian group, Gift of the Givers Foundation tells BuaNews.
Sayed has been gathering donations from various organisations for relief efforts in the east African country's capital, Mogadishu, Somalia.
Some 12.4 million people in Somalia and parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda have been affected by the worst drought in decades and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
The latest UN survey indicated four million people are in crisis in Somalia with 750 00 at risk of dying in the next four months.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the demands are huge, with a $1.1 billion shortfall from a total $2.4 billion that is needed.
On Friday, Sayed collected a consignment that was collected by employees at the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). Rice, maize meal, beans and milk were all collected and the staff played their part in helping those in need.
Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Dina Pule, said the donation was of vital importance as women and children were most affected by the famine.
Reports from the capital, Mogadishu indicate that the suffering of the drought-displaced are mostly women and children, said Pule, adding that they felt they needed to do something as a department.
Stories from the ground indicate that women have had to face abandoning their children along the way because they were too weak to carry them.
"The donations will really make a difference to lives of people there," said Sayed, giving thanks to and gratitude on behalf of the millions suffering in Somalia.
The work of the Gift of the Givers has been commendable in helping the victims there.
A team of over 50, including 24 medical specialists, anaesthetists, paediatricians and orthopaedic surgeons are on the ground in Mogadishu trying to assist wherever they can.
The organization has also dispatched eight charted flights and two ships carrying 500 tons of suppliers each to help Mogadishu.
The supplies are high-end specialised paediatric ready-to-drink milk supplements, high energy and protein ready-to-eat food supplements for children and adults; intravenous fluids, antibiotics, malaria medication, a range of other medical supplies, food items, sanitary pads, personal hygiene items and bottled water.
But Sayed said this is still not enough as they need to feed more than 3000 people a day and distribute about 700 food parcels to different camps a day on the ground.
Describing the situation in Somalia, Sayed said his colleagues were seeing different trends in a lot of severe malnutrition and dehydration in children as well as acute opportunistic infections.
"It's heartbreaking. The children are so weak they can't lift their heads, while their mothers are in despair."
Asked about the safety of the SA team there, Sayed said they have not had any problems. "When they see South African flags, they open their hearts ... even though the organisation was given special security, they have not really needed them for any emergency."
Security has been an issue for some humanitarian groups because of security threats from Al-Shabaab, the terrorist organization that controls the majority of southern Somalia.
The South African government has responded to the humanitarian crisis confronting the Horn of Africa by raising R8 million towards the famine relief programme. R4 million was donated to the Gift of the Givers, towards transportation and logistical costs of delivering aid to Somalia.
In addition, it pledged a further $280 000 during the African Union Pledging Conference in August. - BuaNews
