How many people live in Australia today? According to the ABS, it should be just 24.5 million today. Most of us will have three daily meals (unless you’re a Muslim in which case it’s Ramadan), a roof over our heads and a doctor not too far off if we need to see one. Meanwhile, about a third of the way around the world, 23 million people are on the brink of starvation. Not quite the population of Australia, but pretty close.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
How did we not hear about this? A recent survey has noted that most Australians don’t know much about this unfolding disaster. Described by the SBS as, “…the worst humanitarian crisis in 70 years,” and by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien as, “…the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN”, the famine in Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia hardly has a media presence in most of the news networks around the country.
Most of us (and we aren’t including those with psychological or physical disorders) have never starved. Most of us probably don’t know anyone who’s ever starved to death. Most of us have probably never had to watch a loved one pass away because of a lack of food. We live in a land of plenty so it is hard to imagine what that is like.
The Bible reminds us that love in action means we should rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). We should be concerned about what is happening in the Horn of Africa and remember them in our prayers. If there is anything else we can do about it, we should. No doubt there are some who would ask, “Well, where is God in this?”, or “Why would a good God allow such a tragedy to happen?”. Never mind God. In the words of Mr O’Brien from the UN, “…only a political solution will ultimately end human suffering and bring stability to the region,” and of the famine in South Sudan, “The famine in the country is man-made.” If you’re really concerned, what are you doing about it?
