This holiday season we should remember countries who are often left out of the spotlight. Mozambique, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are three African nations facing severe hunger emergencies. Their situation has largely been forgotten and because funding is about to run out for the most hungry and vulnerable. Unless the world takes action, a hunger catastrophe will threaten many lives.
Imagine if this holiday season you could share your celebration with Salome's family in Mozambique. Salome is a mother of three who lives in a shelter after being displaced by the ongoing conflict in the impoverished country. Salome's husband and eldest son were killed in an attack by armed bandits who have continually raided villages.
Salome described the horror to the World Food Program (WFP): "When I came back home, they were already attacking us. My house was destroyed. I lost eight people from my family. My husband and my eldest son were killed. I managed to escape by foot, then I sold what jewelry I could grab to pay for my rides to meet my other children."
Salome used to have a business, but that is now lost because of the violence. She used to be able to feed her family but now depends on the U.N. WFP for help. She is not alone in her struggle. Over a million people are now displaced in Mozambique just in the last two years.
The new tragedy emerging is that WFP has almost run out of funds for its relief mission in Mozambique. Rations have already been reduced for Salome and other hungry families.
Funding has been so low that WFP said it will have to suspend life-saving assistance to 1 million people in Mozambique. These cuts will take effect early next year unless funding is received.
Imagine also the hundreds of thousands of hungry refugees in the nation of Chad. They have fled conflict in the Central African Republic and Sudan. The United Nations said that these refugees, who have lost everything, are in danger of losing WFP food support because of low funding.
"Refugees count on us for what is sometimes the only meal they eat in a day—WFP's food is a vital lifeline. Cutting this lifeline now will have devastating consequences on the most vulnerable, especially women, girls and children—we're extremely concerned," said Pierre Honora, WFP country director and representative in Chad.
Imagine a refugee child in Chad who is able to go to school because of free WFP meals. If the meals are cut because of low funding the child will likely drop out of school and spend the day searching for food. Imagine the malnourished infants who won't be able to get lifesaving foods like Plumpy'Nut.
The situation also continues to be urgent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). There is fighting ongoing between the March 23 movement (M23) rebels and the government. Hunger and displacement continue to worsen in the country.
With enough funding WFP can feed the conflict victims and also expand key programs nationwide such as school feeding, as previously reported at Newsweek.
This holiday season you can donate meals to the World Food Program and help save the hungry in Mozambique, Chad and the DRC.
William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by The Washington Post, History News Network, Cleveland's The Plain Dealer and many other news outlets. Lambers recently volunteered to write the Hunger Heroes section of WFP's online learning game Freerice.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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