Dear <<First Name>>,
During the past few weeks we’ve been in emergency meetings with our partners who are desperate to get the word out about a crisis that's unfolding.
We need you to know about what’s happening in the Sahel right now. The Sahel region wraps like a belt around the widest part of Africa, encompassing parts of Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Senegal. Following years of poor rainfall and recent conflict, the Sahel had one of its driest growing seasons this year, leaving crops, animals, and 15 million people without water or food for the summer.
The rumblings of famine rarely become breaking news stories, so the Sahel isn’t making it into enough headlines yet. But this is an issue that just can’t wait. We’re asking you to help stop this disaster before it gains momentum.
If you could stop an earthquake, tsunami, or flood, would you? While a drought might not seem as urgent as one of these violent acts of nature, the truth is that three times as many people are at risk than the 2004 Indonesian tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. Rather than the instant effect of many recent natural disasters, famine is slow, painful, and often more devastating.
Right now, we have the ability to keep a new crisis at bay in the Sahel region. We know that money toward prevention can be at least three times more efficient than the amount spent on emergency relief. We’ve created the Sahel Relief Fund to help you make smart donations now before the situation in West and Central Africa becomes a full-blown disaster.
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$10 can feed one person in Niger for a whole month
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$25 provides Plumpy’Nut® (a calorie- and nutrient-packed peanut paste) to two malnourished children in the Sahel
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$100 can provide a survival kit containing a blanket, mattress, kitchen set, stove, and soap to a refugee family fleeing into the Sahel from conflict in Mali
You could wait a few months for the stories and the images that will compel you to act with your heart to provide emergency aid. But instead, we’re asking you to act with your head today, knowing that your funds can go further and you can prevent needless suffering in the Sahel.
Thank you for your kindness.
With great love,
Mattie Ressler, Shonali Banerjee and the GlobalGiving team
p.s. Please pardon our French, but famine is the real obscenity.
