...and the only thing I can think of doing, at this difficult moment, is just talk about it. Maybe you'll be able to help somehow.
But before I do, here's a picture of my cousin. She's seven & beautiful. Her name is Fartun. I wish I knew her better than I do – we've kind of gone different paths in our lives, and never really had the chance to meet. But I love her. And she needs help.
Seven-year-old Fartun Hassan smiles shyly after hanging a cloth she had just washed on a tree at a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Dadaab [Roberto Schmidt/AFP]
Fartun right now is in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world situated in an arid corner of Kenya. She is Somali – our families kind of went separate ways a long time ago. Actually, mine did, moving out of Africa and migrating into the Middle East, then up through Europe and finally, recently, to North America. Her family remained in Africa, and even though I left a long, long time ago, I still think of that place. And right now, I'm thinking of her. Of how I'd like to play soccer with her one day. If she survives. If I can help her survive.
Fartun is just one of a staggering 11 million Africans who are caught, at this moment, in one of the greatest humanitarian crises in human history.
I've never gotten a chance to visit my cousin Fartun in Dadaab, but my friend Nazanine Moshiri has, and this is how she describes the place:
I have been to refugee camps before, but nothing on the sheer scale of Dadaab. The camp was only supposed to house tens of thousands, but according to the latest UNHCR figures there are now more than 370,000 people here.
An additional 10,000 or so people still unregistered - add that to the 1,000 or more arriving every single day.
The facility is just huge - split into three sections by kilometres of dark golden sand, swirling in the wind. One of the most famous of inner camps is called Dagahaley, this is where many of the people who have walked for days, first arrive.
What really strikes you is just how many women and children there are. Their faces, hands and feet covered in dust that has turned their skin a greyish colour. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the Somalis coming are women and children.
I'm also thinking of my other cousin – I'm going to be honest, though it's a bit embarrassing, that I don't even remember her name. She's with Fartun now in Kenya, having arrived recently, one of the 1,000 that arrive daily. It took her a long time to get to the refugee camp. She went a long time without food, having escaped both famine and war. So please forgive her appearance – this wasn't her best day. Here's a picture of her:
A Somali girl waits for other refugees to fill up a bus that will take them to a facility where they will be given a refugee card that will entitle them to receive food rations on a regular basis [Roberto Schmidt/AFP]
Oh, and here are my other cousins. They're also with Fartun. They also need help.
Somali men wait in line outside a registration and food distribution point [Roberto Schmidt/AFP]
Please, everyone, can you help my cousins? It doesn't take very much. I have so many others, some who are really doing badly. But I didn't want to post pictures of them. I figured introducing you to Fartun might be best. She's doing okay, but she still needs help. Food in the camps are still tenuous.
I want her to live.
DONATE
• The World Food Programme: Fill the Cup: (THE WFP needs $200 million just to meet this year's needs in the
Horn of Africa.) (NOTE: here is the WFP U.S. link.)
• Care International (Here is the U.S. link for Care.)
• MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES
• UNICEF: Donate to Save Children in Horn of Africa Crisis
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: #foodcrisis #HornofAfrica #drought
Facebook: Horn of Africa
MAPSOURCING
Regional Drought Response Plan: East Africa Droughts.
RESOURCES
• BBC: What you Need to Know
• Al Jazeera Horn of Africa(English)
• AlertNet Q&A: How Bad is the Horn of Africa Drought
• PhotoEssay: 7/11 PBS Newshour
• Images/Maps Guardian Interactive Horn of Africa Drought Map
• Why doesn't a drought go away when it rains?
• Oxfam:Food crisis in Wajir, Kenya