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Raise the Children: How to Help Kids in Africa

Posted on | by Leo Wilson

Everyday, millions of children in Africa live with the uncertainty of not knowing where their next meal will come from. In fact, one third of all child deaths in Africa is caused by a lack of adequate nutrition. With conditions in the region worsening, the number of children facing hunger has been rising every single day, prompting Embrace Relief to start our Raise the Children campaign back in 2014. Below are some of the most prevalent ways kids in Africa have found themselves struggling or at a severe disadvantage through no fault of their own in recent years.

  • 152 million children—or one in four—across Africa are living in a conflict zone where they and/or their parents are liable to be either maimed or killed on a regular basis.
  • Nearly 59 million children in Africa suffer from stunting due to malnutrition. Much of this is due to the extreme poverty in many regions, which also impacts the children’s—and their parents’—access to clean water. Governments simply don’t have the ability to fund the infrastructure necessary for clean, sanitary water on a regular basis.
  • As a result of lack of access to clean water, many children—especially young girls—spend hours per day collecting unsafe water from lakes, ponds, and rivers. This practice steals precious school time and often causes them and their families to contract harmful—sometimes even deadly—waterborne illnesses. This results in young girls suffering from gender inequality throughout life as well.
  • Girls in West and Central Africa face the highest risk of child marriage, as about four in 10 are married before the age of 18. This also fuels conflict and gender inequality in regions of Africa.
  • In West Africa, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history left tens of thousands of children without parents. Also, more than one million kids in Liberia alone were affected by school closings.
  • COVID-19 is only exacerbating the already dire situation in Africa, leaving children and families without access to basic sanitation and healthcare more vulnerable than ever.
  • Severe natural weather conditions, such as prolonged and frequent droughts across the Horn of Africa, are leaving children and their families struggling to survive.

How We Help the Children

As a result of the conditions above, there are currently an estimated 32.1 million orphaned children in Africa. These children have no support, nothing to their name, and no one to turn to. This is why Embrace Relief has stepped in, supplying 130 vulnerable children across three orphanages in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the following:

  • Coverage of the orphanages’ costs for general necessities, including gas, charcoal, water, and electric bills
  • Products for growth, health, and nutrition, including beans, rice, maize flour, wheat flour, sugar, cooking oils, and various spices
  • Items for personal and overall hygiene, such as bath soap, toothpaste, and disinfectants
  • Health insurance to protect against any unexpected, highly expensive medical services and costs due to serious accidents or illnesses
  • Funds for each individual child’s needs
  • Primary education for the children of the Galaxie Foundation Orphanage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Donate to Kids Today

Please consider donating today to not just help a child in need, but 130 of them and hopefully many more in the future! All the vital necessities we provide not only ensure these children survive and feel the love and support of someone who cares, but also gives them the encouragement they need to pave bright, happy, and prosperous futures for themselves. And that, in turn, will help them contribute to their communities and lift areas of Africa out of extreme poverty.

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Educating the Children of The Galaxie Foundation Orphanage

Posted on | by Leo Wilson
At the moment, public education in The Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa is suffering from an overabundance of students and the government’s inability to pay teachers adequately. This results in teachers being unable to effectively teach all of their students, many of whom aren’t even able to find a desk or chair to sit at during class. The COVID-19 pandemic is only exacerbating the situation, too, since so many children are packed so close together. On the other hand, private institutions provide an adequate number of teachers, allowing them to continually follow up with each student individually. They also provide special courses for weak or struggling students. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential the vulnerable children at the Galaxie Foundation Orphanage receive private schooling, as it’s the only way they’ll be able to move on to higher education and, subsequently, have better opportunities and jobs. Without investing in these children’s education, they’ll be unable to pave brighter, more prosperous futures for both themselves and their communities.

Please Donate Today

We already provide all these children food, water, shelter, health insurance, funds for their orphanages’ bills, among other things they would otherwise not have access to on a regular basis. However, we are asking you to please consider donating today to help fund these underprivileged children’s education so they can both achieve their dreams and help abolish the extreme poverty in the region as well. The cost of this education is $1,000 per child per year, so any bit you can give—no matter the size—would greatly contribute toward us reaching this momentous goal. Plus, it’s up to you how many children you’d like to support and you can either make a one-time or monthly payment, the latter costing $85 per child. Please consider donating today to put a smile on an underprivileged child’s face and a future in the palm of their hand.

Yemen Crisis 2021: Providing Hunger Relief to Yemen

Posted on | by Leo Wilson

The Yemen humanitarian crisis is currently the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, making providing the ailing country hunger relief one of the most important tasks anyone can do today. The Yemen Crisis stems from a variety of reasons, all of which have led to the Yemen Food Crisis, the Yemen Water Crisis, the Yemen Refugee Crisis, among other tragedies.

The Yemen Crisis Explained

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, has been embroiled in a bloody civil war including multiple factions and foreign powers for the past seven years. As a result, more than three million Yemenis have fled their homes to elsewhere in the country, as well as 280,000 to other countries. The conflict has also resulted in 75% of the population—around 21 million people—being in desperate need of humanitarian aid, including more than 11 million children. Plus, 11.3 million people are in acute need and require immediate assistance to survive. Part of this is due to the fact only half of the country’s 3,500 health facilities are operational, and those that are lack basic equipment, including some that’s necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, masks, gloves, oxygen, among other essential COVID-fighting supplies. Yemen’s weakened medical state has led to 16.4 million people lacking basic healthcare and health workers not receiving a regular salary in several years. The coronavirus is only exacerbating the horrific humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as is the world’s largest cholera outbreak ripping through the area. The cholera outbreak alone has resulted in more than 1 million suspected cases and 2,248 associated deaths since April 2017.

How Yemeni Children Are Affected

The crisis in Yemen has led to 17.8 million people not knowing where their next meal is coming from and 8.4 million at risk of starvation. This includes 2.3 million children under five years old suffering from acute malnutrition and 400,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, according to an analysis in February 2021. Children also continue to be killed and maimed in the conflict, and damage and closure of schools and hospitals continues to disrupt their access to education and health services, leaving them even more vulnerable and robbing them of their futures.

How to Help Yemen and How to Help Children in Yemen

Embrace Relief has been distributing food packages to Yemen as part of its World Hunger Relief campaign, which started in 2013. In 2020 alone, we sent over 18,000 food packages (including Qurbani packages, which contain meat high in fat, protein, minerals, and vitamins) to people in need worldwide. This includes over 1,600 to children—including orphans—and families in Yemen. We’ve staunchly continued our support this year, too, reaching over an additional 30,000 people worldwide. So, please help Yemen by making a Yemen Crisis Donation today, and be sure to keep up-to-date with the conflict by visiting the r/yemen crisis subreddit on the popular social media website Reddit. It’s brimming with all kinds of topics and information related to the crisis. Together, we can alleviate the suffering of thousands of people struggling to put food on the table in Yemen, providing them both the nutrition they desperately need as well as hope for a brighter future.

Donate Now!

International Hunger Relief: Feed the Hungry

Posted on | by Leo Wilson

Unfortunately, a staggering 815 million people worldwide are currently hungry due to reasons beyond their control, prompting Embrace Relief to create its International Hunger Relief campaign. Indeed, global famine and food insecurity have plagued humans ever since their existence, causing death and varying levels of malnutrition. For example, some famous famines throughout history include the Ukraine Famine, Yemen Famine, North Korean Famine, Irish Potato Famine, among many others, leading to the creation of other world hunger relief organizations, too. So, what is food insecurity?

Food insecurity definition: The state of not having reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food.

Famine definition: an extreme scarcity of food.

How Embrace Relief Combats World Hunger

To combat this tragic issue, Embrace Relief has sent over 1.7 million lbs. of food to a total of over 1,115,000 people throughout 40 countries since 2013. In 2020 alone, we sent the following number of food packages to families in the following countries:

  • Greece food donation: 350
  • Yemen food donation: 700
  • Tanzania food donation: 100

 

We also sent out Qurbani packages, which are food packages containing meat (sheep, cattle, or goat), both locally and internationally. They’re perfect for fighting malnutrition—especially in growing children—due to being high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. In 2020, we distributed the following number of Qurbani packages to families in the following countries:

  • Uganda food donation: 4,320
  • US food donation: 3,773
  • Tanzania food donation: 2,200
  • Greece food donation: 1,300
  • Kenya food donation: 1,200
  • Nigeria food donation: 1,200
  • Mali food donation: 1,200
  • Yemen food donation: 907
  • Burkina Faso food donation: 800
  • Philippines food donation: 600

That’s a total of 17,500 families reached worldwide with our Qurbani packages alone. And we’ve steadfastly continued our successful international hunger relief campaign in 2021 by reaching a total of 30,000 malnourished people with food packages. These included people in Greece, the United States, Yemen, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Other Ways We’ve Helped Stave Off Starvation

In 2021 we also held our second Harvest Trolley Mobile Market in Montclair, New Jersey. During this event families in need of food swung by a truck and snagged pasta, beans, juices, among other things for free. We were able to reach 60 hungry families (240 people) during the event. And last, but certainly not least, we were able to reach 660 people, including orphans, with food packages in Tanzania, Yemen, India, and Congo as well.

How You Can Help

We here at Embrace Relief plan on continuing to help those struggling to find their next meal for as much and as long as possible, as there are still so many more people worldwide in desperate need of hunger relief. However, we could certainly use your help! Please consider donating today to help us fight global hunger and not only provide hungry people with nourishment, but hope for a healthier, brighter future. And what’s more—there’s no need to Google “Find a Food Donation Near Me.” Simply click on our World Hunger Relief donation page and make your donation today. You and thousands of vulnerable people suffering from starvation will be forever grateful for your generosity and selflessness.

Help Now!

World Hunger Facts: World Food Shortage 2023

Posted on | by Leo Wilson

Summary

  • Many people are unaware that there’s a hunger crisis affecting nearly one-tenth of the world’s population.
  • Read on to learn some of the startling facts about global hunger, including its effects on millions of children each year.
  • Then, find out how you can support Embrace Relief’s efforts to feed as many people in need as possible through our International Hunger Relief campaigns.

Looking at today’s world hunger facts makes it clear how much of a major issue global food insecurity really is. There are many causes of world hunger, including a lack of resources, extreme inequality of income distribution in the world, and conflict within and between countries. Below are just a few of the incredibly disconcerting facts regarding food insecurity in the world today.

Worldwide Food Shortage Facts

The world produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet, yet nearly 10% of the world’s population is undernourished in 2023, according to the World Bank.

Undernourishment is defined as a state of inability to acquire enough food for at least one year. Enough food is defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. On average, 2,100 is a healthy amount of calories to consume per day. However, most people who are chronically hungry eat even less than 1,800. And, unfortunately, the UN World Food Programme’s live Hunger Map aggregates 700 million people worldwide who do not have enough to eat on a regular basis. Hunger can be found in every country on the planet, but developing countries and countries with high levels of poverty are most at risk.

  • 700 million+ people are living in extreme poverty. Out of the eight billion people on the planet, nearly one in 10 live in extreme poverty, defined as living on $2.15 per person per day. Extreme poverty does more than deprive people of necessary food—it also robs them of safe drinking water, sanitation, education, shelter, and other basics of life. And while the number of people living in extreme poverty is declining each year, there are still many more vulnerable people – nearly half the world’s population (47 percent) lives on $6.85 per person or less per day.
  • Small farmers, herders, and fishermen produce about 70 percent of the global food supply, yet they are especially vulnerable to food insecurity. Poverty and hunger are most acute among rural populations.
  • Conflict is a cause and consequence of hunger. Conflict is responsible for eight of the 10 world’s worst food crises, and nearly 60 percent of the world’s hungriest people live in conflict zones.
  • Undernourishment causes 45% of all children’s deaths. Each year, 3.1 million children die from hunger-related causes, which include diarrhea and malnutrition. Every 10 seconds a child dies from hunger. More than 99 million children under age 5 are undernourished and underweight. As a result of hunger, children experience poor health, low energy levels, and reductions in mental functioning due to hunger.
  • Rising global food prices will cause 1.27 million more children to be undernourished in the near future, making them one of the chief factors contributing to the rise in world hunger. These rising prices are a result of the increase in demand for food by the continually growing population and underinvestment of agriculture. Unfortunately, this demand takes away the only food source for those in need, contributing to food shortages around the world and, therefore, rampant famine in the world.
  • One-tenth (1/10) of the population of Asia is undernourished, accounting for roughly half of the world’s population of hungry people. Much of this hunger if centered in India, where approximately one in six people (1/6) live with hunger.

The Solution to World Hunger and the Cost to Solve World Hunger

All of these facts beg a series of highly important questions:

  • How do we end world hunger?
  • What is the cost to end world hunger?
  • What are some solutions to world hunger?

Unfortunately, however, the problem is far too complex — and stems from far too many factors — to offer a simple, all-encompassing answer. While the international community continues to work on solutions to this pressing issue, we can work together to alleviate suffering from the effects of world hunger in the short term. This is a role that Embrace Relief has played since 2013.

How We Limit Global Starvation: Our World Hunger Solutions and Facts

Mankind may never be able to fully solve world hunger, but since 2013 Embrace Relief has done its part to limit food shortages in the world. Our annual International Hunger Relief campaigns have reached hundreds of thousands of people, and many more have received food packages, hot meals, and meat packages at food distribution events. More than 5.5 million people in over 40 countries have benefitted from Embrace Relief’s Hunger Relief campaigns.

But we can’t do any of this without the help of generous people like you. Please consider donating to Embrace Relief today, via the donation box below, to contribute to our global efforts to end world hunger and help vulnerable people who are constantly struggling to find their next meal. Not only are you providing them the gift of nutrition, you’re giving them hope for a healthier, happier future as well. Together, let’s do everything we possibly can to stop world hunger!

Donate For Hunger Relief

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Promoting World Hunger Relief: How Many Days Can You Go Without Food?

Posted on | by Leo Wilson

815 million people worldwide currently go to bed hungry every single night through no fault of their own and are therefore in desperate need of hunger relief. This is why we here at Embrace Relief created our world hunger relief campaign, and why many world hunger relief organizations, such as Hunger Relief International, have sprouted up in recent years. We’re all trying to fight global famine, food insecurity, and the countless needless deaths and varying stages of malnutrition caused. In fact, famine and food insecurity have scarcely been strangers to our planet, as there have been many instances of them throughout history. For example, the Ukraine Famine, Yemen Famine, North Korean Famine, Irish Potato Famine, among many others. So…

What Do Famine and Food Insecurity Mean, Exactly?

Famine definition: an extreme scarcity of food. 

Food insecurity definition: The state of not having reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. 

Both definitions pose the question: 

How many days can someone actually go without food, anyway? 

Well, the amount of time varies, though below are a few facts about food (and water) consumption everybody should know about. It’s important to note that not a lot of studies have been done on this topic, though, since it’s been deemed unethical in recent years.

  • According to an article in Archiv Fur Kriminologie, the body can survive for 8 to 21 days without food and water and up to two months with adequate water consumption. Water plays such a big role because the body has more reserves to replace food than fluid.
  • People who have voluntarily stopped eating to participate in hunger strikes have died after 45–61 days, suggesting a person would be unlikely to survive for three months or more.
  • There also appears to be a minimum number on the body mass index (BMI) scale necessary for survival. According to the journal Nutrition, men require a BMI of at least 13, whereas women require at least 11.
  • Obesity plays a role as well. According to an article in the British Medical Journal, when abstaining from eating during the first three days, people of normal weight will lose a higher percentage of body weight and muscle tissue faster than those who are obese.
  • According to the journal Nutrition, women’s body composition makes them able to withstand starvation longer than men. One of the reasons for this is because women have a higher percentage of body fat than men. Once the body breaks down other parts of itself to create energy in the absence of food (such as converting glycogen from liver and muscles), it will start converting amino acids out of fat stores.

Needless to say, abstaining from food is never a healthy thing, as the body will begin to break down tissue from parts of itself to create the energy it usually gleans from food. This gradually depletes the body until it eventually perishes, likely within two months max, according to experts. And even if the body is receiving food but not enough, it will experience detrimental malnutrition symptoms such as: faintness, dizziness, hypotension, weakness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, organ failure, heart attack, among many others. Therefore, it’s incredibly important we fight global hunger, no matter how it arises, any way we can.

How Embrace Relief Helps

To combat global hunger and feed the hungry, Embrace Relief organizes and facilitates countless food drives and food distribution campaigns. Since 2013, we have distributed over 1.7 million pounds of food both domestically and internationally to those most in need in over 40 countries, reaching over 1,115,000 people.

Please Donate Today

Please consider donating today to help people who are constantly struggling to find their next meal through no fault of their own. And it’s so simple and easy to do so—just click our World Hunger Relief donation page and make your donation. No need to Google “Find a Food Donation Near Me”—your incredibly valuable and selfless gift to those most in need is just a click away. Not only are you providing the malnourished the gift of nutrition, you’re providing them hope for a healthier, happier future as well.

Donate Now!