Sister Somalia

If you've checked the news lately, you've seen the tragic images coming out of Somalia.  Because of a conflation of factors (like brutal drought and widespread insecurity and inept governance and poverty and etc.etc.etc.), an estimated 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are being affected by drought and famine, and at least 100,000 people have already fled to refugee camps.  It's estimated that 29,000 children have died of starvation in the past 90 days alone.  The situation is dire.

Today I read a story about an 11-year-old boy in Ghana named Andrew Adansi-Bonnha who has been so affected by the crisis in Somalia that he has set a personal goal to raise $13 million for famine victims.  So in Ghana, where the average yearly income is $2,500 a year, Andrew is spending his summer vacation walking from office to office, collecting donations for people in Somalia, where the average yearly income is $600 a year.  So far Andrew has collected $6,500... and $500 of that came from his father, who donated his entire July salary to the cause.

I also read a bunch of stories this week about rape in Somalia.  Rape often proliferates when there is a resource shortage, and the present moment in Somalia is no exception to this trend.  Women fleeing their homes in Somalia are telling stories of being raped as they travel, and women in refugee camps are often subjected to sexual violence.  The International Rescue Committee reports that "the IRC's operation in Dadaab saw a four-fold increase in sexual violence attacks in June, and that it doubled again in July and continued to increase in August."

We want to provide our Utah for Congo supporters with a way to send assistance to women in Somalia who are being affected by famine and gender-based violence, and so we are planning a Sister Somalia dinner party to raise money for the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, a Somali organization founded and run by Fartun Adan, who is an experienced and tireless advocate for women in Somalia.

Here's the plan for the dinner party; it's pretty simple.
-We make dinner for you.
-You bring a donation for Sister Somalia.
-After dinner, we will have a skype conversation with Lisa Shannon, the activist/writer who wrote A Thousand Sisters and founded Run for Congo Women.  This is a great chance for us to talk to Lisa in person and ask her questions!

Because we will be making dinner, the dinner party is by-invitation... so if you'd like an invitation with the address, you can send us an email at utahforcongo@gmail.com or contact us on our facebook page.  We'd love to have you join us!

If you can't make it that night, please consider making a donation to Sister Somalia or another organization that is on the ground in Somalia (see this link for a list of organizations).  If Andrew Adansi-Bonnha's father could spare his entire monthly salary, and if Andrew himself is willing to commit his entire summer vacation to his fundraising drive, surely each of us can do something.