Life is hard for the nomadic people struggling to survive in the arid Afar region of Ethiopia. For generations, they have managed to be able to keep themselves and their cattle alive in the drought-prone region. But this year’s severe drought is the worst these people have seen in their lifetime.

“By now the number of drought victims in Ethiopia has reached 7.8 million people suffering from widespread drought,” reported Yimer Mohammed, Director of the Yeteem Children and Destitute Mothers Fund, our long-time partner.

The severity of the drought has prompted Mr. Mohammed to make an urgent request for emergency drought food aid citing crop failure and food shortages “which aggravates the vulnerability of household livelihood through the devastation of livestock resources.”

And we could not refuse his request for funding for wheat flour, vegetable oil, biscuits and rice which will go towards sustaining an estimated 12,000 children, women and men on the brink of death during this period of extreme hardship – and thanks to our supporters, we did not have to.