The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has responded to the suffering in Somalia and other areas of Africa by organizing a relief effort, sending food, supplies and hope to people in desperate need.
To date, the LDS Church has sent 1 million pounds of staple foods to 11 refugee camps inside Kenya.Approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Somalis have taken refugee from civil war and famine inside Kenya, which borders Somalia on the south, said Isaac Ferguson, director of international welfare and humanitarian service for the LDS Church.
According to Ferguson, who traveled to Africa last year, the experience of visiting the refugee camps is shocking."We would go into one of those camps and a parent would come up and grab you by the hand and walk you to their little hut and want you to go inside.
"You'd kneel down and look inside and there's two little kids that are just skin and bones with big huge eyes, and they're not able to even move their arm to get the flies out of their face," Ferguson said.
"They're just basically pleading for some kind of help to save their loved ones," he said.
Church authorities felt sending relief efforts to Kenya, to be trucked into Somali refugee camps just inside the border, would be the best way to reach starving people.
The supplies are then distributed by several relief agencies that are firmly established in the area, Ferguson said.
According to Keith McMullian, managing director of LDS Church welfare programs, by sending supplies to Somali refugees in Kenya, the Church is helping feed the starving while avoiding the myriad transportation problems experienced by relief agencies in war-torn Somalia.
Providing grain, milk and beans for children up to age five and for nursing mothers has been the focus of the effort, Ferguson said.
The first phase extended not only into Kenya but further down the eastern African coast to Mozambique and Zimbabwe as well, Ferguson said.
More than 250,000 pounds of used clothing has also been sent to Africa as part of the relief program, as well as money to help develop the agricultural infrastruc-ture of several areas.
Money earmarked for development was spent to rehabilitate water sources and build earthen dams for water storage. It was also used to purchase seed, fertilizer and farm implements, Ferguson said.
According to McMullian, money spent for development will help stave off starvation in the coming years by fostering self-sufficiency among the people of Somalia and other sections of Africa.
The second phase of the church's relief effort is just beginning and involves monitoring conditions in the region and meeting demands of continuing problems, Ferguson said.
The church is now organizing an effort to send large amounts of powdered milk to Africa. Most of the food is coming from LDS Church welfare farms in the United States and Canada, Mc-Mullian said.