Ves Charity Group

Non-profit organizations fight against hunger through a generous financial contribution.

2012-05-10T17:25:00.002-07:00

St. Mary's Food Bank reaped the benefits of the ASU Undie Run. Adam and his brother the Move For Hunger guys pulled up St. Mary's dock this am in a 16 wheeler ASU semi To drop off food. Move For Hunger is proud to announce their recent partnership with Mango Moving at the Signature Level. Mango Moving LLC, a Kansas City-based national moving company, has committed to support Move For Hunger's fight against hunger through a generous financial contribution.

Move For Hunger is a non-profit organization that works with moving companies and other members of the relocation industry to combat the growing hunger problem in the United States. Many people throw out a good deal of "stuff" when they move. Unfortunately, that "stuff" often includes food that could be delivered to a family in need rather than thrown away. In partnering with Move for Hunger, Mango Moving will provide their customers with services to donate any food items that they won't be moving instead of disposing of them. Mango will pack and deliver the food directly to Harvesters Community Food Network or a local food bank at no cost to the customer. "Moving can be a stressful process.

The Move for Hunger program gives customers a way to simplify part of the moving and packing process while giving them an opportunity to help families in need," said Mango Moving COO, Robert Vespa. "We're proud to be teaming up with such a great organization and a worthy cause." "We are so happy to have Mango Moving join the Move For Hunger family for 2012," said Gavin Christiansen, Director of Operations at Move For Hunger. "Their commitment to ending hunger will help provide life saving meals for the most vulnerable in the Kansas City area." About Move For Hunger: Move For Hunger is a non-profit organization that works with relocation companies across the country to pick up unwanted, unopened food from those who are moving and deliver it to local food banks across the country.

To date, Move For Hunger is working with over 250 movers in 40 states and has collected more than 420,000 pounds of food. For more information or to find out how you can help support Move For Hunger, visit www.MoveForHunger.org and make an online donation to help our hunger relief efforts. About Mango Moving: Mango Moving, LLC, is a fully licensed and insured nationwide moving company and leading provider of affordable moving services and storage solutions.

Working directly with our network of experienced transportation, packing and loading professionals, Mango can coordinate every aspect of your move or just the pieces that fit your needs to provide you with the very best moving experience. Every Mango move is backed by our exclusive Best Price, On-Time Guarantee, ensuring that a Mango move will be the best move you can make. For more information, visit www.mangomoving.com .

10 million people at risk in East Africa's worst drought in more than 60 years

2012-02-18T19:51:00.001-08:00

UNITED NATIONS -- Aid agencies are calling it the worst drought in 60 years. East Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in more than 60 years, with as many as 10 million people at risk. The drought has led to crop failures and food shortages in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia, and now a refugee crisis looms as people leave their homes to escape hunger. The U.N. says thousands of Somalis are leaving their country, ending up in parched and overcrowded refugee camps. Dadaab in Kenya is the world's largest refugee camp. Intended for 90,000 people, the U.N. says there are now more than 380,000 there.

Emergency relief workers are getting increasingly alarmed at the scale of a slow-moving disaster in the Horn of Africa, where months of dry weather is said to be threatening famine and a new humanitarian crisis. Last week U.N. agencies monitoring a severe drought in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti increased the volume on existing warnings over food shortages in the region, a consequence, they say, of an unprecedented dry spell, instability and higher global food prices. Reports suggest parts of Somalia may already be on the verge of famine, a repeat of the emergency situation that occurred when the central government collapsed there two decades ago.

Officials in the field are reporting adults from Somalia turning up in camps in Ethiopia and Kenya showing signs of severe malnutrition, with some even dying shortly after they arrive. In April officials estimated that up to 8 million people in the region will be in need of emergency food aid as a consequence of the drought. That number has now been increased to 10 or 11 million in urgent need. The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is calling it the worst drought the region has experienced the early 1950s. And the problem is made much more difficult by the continuing anarchy and civil strife in most of Somalia, coupled with cross-border raids and violence between pastoral communities in the Ethiopian-Kenyan border. However, refugees are being pushed from Somalia for a simple lack of food, said OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker. She estimates about 5,000 people are entering Ethiopia from Somalia every week.

"What people are saying is that those people who are arriving are arriving in bad shape," Bunker said in an interview. "We have not heard that there is a famine yet, but it is concerning that there are parts of Somalia where we simply don't know what the situation is and what condition the people are in." Bunker confirmed that some of those new arrivals have died from malnutrition. 'Downhill from here' Normally taking the lead in coordinating relief efforts in such cases, OCHA has been joined in a chorus of warnings by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme. All five U.N. organizations are working overtime to bring more publicity to the worsening situation in a news cycle dominated by the Arab Spring. Drought conditions and extreme food shortages in the area at expected to last into 2012.

"The prognosis is that it's going to go downhill from here," Bunker said. "Resources are woefully inadequate," OCHA emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio last week. "We have an appeal that is at the moment only 40 percent met. Some of the key sectors that are needed to protect and save the lives of people in Somalia are not being addressed at all." Other U.N. agencies are painting a similarly dire picture of the food security situation in East Africa, but say they are assisting as best they can. "Desperate hunger is looming across the Horn of Africa and threatening the lives of millions who are struggling to survive in the face of rising food prices and conflict," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said in a release.

"It is essential that we move quickly to break the destructive cycle of drought and hunger that forces farmers to sell their means of production as part of their survival strategy." A map disseminated to governments by OCHA shows areas in the four countries close to the verge of famine, increasing the odds that that agency will issue a fresh appeal for relief funds and food aid soon. Areas deemed to now exist in a state of emergency include the coastal region of Somalia northeast of Mogadishu, the far eastern and southern corners of Ethiopia, and most of Kenya's northeast frontier. Many of those regional emergencies are now classified as "critical" by the U.N. office and are at risk of tipping over to the worst classification of "famine/catastrophe" OCHA says.

Kenyan government blames climate change Officials blame the failure of a normally wet season between April and June to deliver enough rain to sustain wild forage for cattle and other domesticated range animals, let alone enough rainfall sufficient for crops. But the dry spell has been traced to the beginning of last October when an anticipated rainy season also failed to deliver. In June FAO officials declared that the persistently lower-than-average levels of precipitation in the eastern most part of the African continent had become "a chronic feature for the region." Kenyan government officials have blamed climate change on a recurrence of droughts that have led to blackouts in Nairobi and increased cross-border violence with neighboring Ethiopia as pastoral communities continually shift their herds in search of water and forage.

UNICEF estimates that about 25 percent of people in Kenya's far north are now suffering from acute malnutrition, including more than 37 percent of those living in the Lake Turkana area. Throughout the Horn of Africa the aid group warns that "millions of children and women are at risk from death and disease unless a rapid and speedy response is put into action." Officials at UNICEF estimate that numbers of malnourished children in the Horn of Africa countries has increased by 50 percent over levels previously recorded. "The last two rainy seasons were very weak and in part they failed in that region, and that's one of the key factors," said Michael Klaus, East Africa regional communications director for UNICEF, in a phone call from Nairobi.

"The number of people coming over the border from Somalia to Kenya and Ethiopia has increased significantly. In the past two weeks it has definitely increased very much." WFP says it will undertake a new emergency needs assessment this month but is already ramping up food relief efforts in areas hard hit by the drought. Already that agency says its extending emergency food assistance to 4.3 million in Ethiopia and around 2.4 million in Kenya. Officials there expect millions more to be added to the food aid rolls once the needs assessment is complete.

L.A. mothers shed tears for Haiti's needy children and delivers 700 pairs of shoes.

2012-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Watch as best friends Rachel and Malissa talk about their trip to Haiti. The L.A. mothers shed tears when they see children without shoes and how fortunate they are to always have shoes for themselves and their families.
MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT (Addison County Independent) - Just before the Jan. 12 second anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, three local moms early this month delivered more than 700 pairs of shoes collected in Addison County to needy children in the Caribbean island.

“There is an incredible culture of humility that happens when you take a trip like this because we come from a place of such excess by comparison,” said Andrea Ward, a New Haven resident, who made the Jan. 4-8 relief trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with Maria Graham and Kelly Hickey. Hickey of Weybridge created the shoe drive in October 2010. That fall she collected from drop-off sites around the county some 660 shoes, which were sent to Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based charity that collects new and gently used shoes, redistributing them to those in need around the world. She attributed the second year increase in collections to community-wide support.

“It was better this year because Hurricane Irene put people in the mood to give,” Hickey said. “The Middlebury cross country team helped out a lot with Irene and wanted to do more. They gave us 50 pairs of shoes that really tipped us over the 700 mark.” Ward and Maria Graham are co-directors of Junebug, a resale store specializing in maternity and young children’s clothing in downtown Middlebury. “We took as many basics as we could,” said Graham, a Middlebury resident. “We came back with just the clothes on our back and our toothbrushes.

” Graham and Ward went beyond shoes, packing two 50 pound duffle bags with soccer balls, nail polish, hair ribbons, sidewalk chalk and clothing from Junebug. “We carried 28 soccer balls all the way to Haiti, pumped them up, and gave them to kids living in UNICEF tents,” Graham said. “To take pictures of those kids and bring them back to the people who donated the balls is such a satisfying feeling.” Even the waitstaff at American Flatbread got involved, donating $200 from their tips to help defray the cost of shipping the shoes to Soles4Souls. Graham said the success of the project is a testament to the charity of the Middlebury community.

“The fact that they supported us and gave us the money to go on the trip says a lot about the community, that they think what we were doing was worthwhile,” she said. All three moms agreed their children were the unsung heroes behind the trip. “Our children were amazingly generous, and I think that was one of the things that was so amazing about our trip,” said Ward. “They were so willing to give us their chalk for kids in Haiti and support us through all the preparations.” Ward’s nine-year-old daughter Sabi said she missed her mom but was proud of her work in Haiti.

“I offered to go through my toys and give away the ones I didn’t need any more,” she said. “It felt really good to do that.” Sabi said her mother’s trip gave her a love of Haiti and the desire to someday follow in her footsteps. “People just think of Haiti because of the earthquake and because a lot of people are poor there,” Sabi said. “Yes that’s true, but the people there are also amazing.” Graham has struggled to answer the barrage of inquiries regarding the trip. She encourages people to stop asking and go themselves. “You can’t put words to our experience,” Graham said. “I think people just need to go (to Haiti).

” Hickey will be on sabbatical next year from job as a yoga instructor, but hopes Wade and Graham will continue the shoe drive. “I think that not only will the shoe drive become annual, but the trip (to Haiti) will also eventually become annual,” she said. Graham realizes that Junebug, the shoe drive and the trip to Haiti are only small philanthropic endeavors, but said she has big hopes for the future. “Sometimes it feels like a drop in the bucket, but if you keep dropping, eventually the bucket will be full.”

Nonprofit organizations providing the poor and homeless with nutritious meals, clothing, and assistance.

2012-01-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

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Food on Foot is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the poor and homeless of Los Angeles with nutritious meals, clothing, and assistance in the transition to employment and life off the streets.

01/07 - We have many volunteer opportunities available in January. We have a very unique model where the homeless collect trash to earn their food each week. Many have graduated our program and now have full time jobs that enable them to pay for their housing and leave all government assistance. We have helped turn tax burdens into tax payers for the last 15 years. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

We need volunteers in January
Congratulations to the graduates of the Work for Food program.

Lee D. has a full time job at the Tender Greens Restaurant in Santa Monica. He has his own apartment in Hollywood and is completely self-supporting and off all government assistance. He joins the growing list of WFF graduates now giving back to their community, and we invite you to meet him at an upcoming Sunday serving. We are so proud of our Work for Food program that turns tax burdens into tax payers.

Each Sunday afternoon 40-50 homeless and poor individuals participate in our trash clean up program. This is the first step in their attempt to increase confidence and ultimately obtain a full time job and housing. We are proud that so many have graduated our program and are now completely self-supporting and off all government assistance.

"I think FOF is an amazing organization that is self-supporting and far-reaching. I admire the goal of helping people gain the confidence and the courage to help themselves. I think the psychological support services and the requirement for “random acts of kindness” by the participants are essential pieces to the puzzle of success. I am awed by the courage of the people who have graduated from the program and continue to support it by showing up and speaking to large groups of volunteers. I am inspired by their gratitude, strength and humility. They are an inspiration to me and can serve as models for all of us".
-Risa

Sign up here to volunteer

Drought in East Africa is the worst in 60 years

2011-11-23T12:43:00.001-08:00

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Nov. 23 - As the worst drought in decades ravishes the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is taking steps to avoid repeating the devastating famine of the 1980s.

The drought in East Africa is the worst in 60 years - and when food is scarce, infants and children are the most vulnerable. With your support, Plan can continue to provide nutritious food, clean water, school meals, seeds, livestock and fertilizers to thousands more people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan.

A brighter future in Africa Eleven-year-old Abera remembers when each day was a struggle for families in his Ethiopian village. A drought in Eastern Africa had dried up more than the water.

Food and jobs were also scarce. Clean water was often a 10-mile trek away, and farmers like Abera’s father couldn’t always support their families. Classrooms were also in short supply, and few parents could afford the schools supplies their children needed. Like millions in Africa, Abera’s family was caught in a cycle of poverty. But when child sponsorship arrived in their community, life dramatically improved for these families. “Sponsors are good to us,” says Abera, whose family received much-needed food aid to keep them from going hungry when harvests in Eastern Africa were poor.

Sponsorship has also helped provide Abera’s community with access to clean water. “Now, thanks to World Vision, our villagers no longer travel long distances [for water],” he says. World Vision also helped build new schools to give children — including Abera and his five siblings — the chance to learn and thrive. Abera knows that without sponsorship, life would be different. He values the meaningful connection with his sponsor, and is very thankful that he is "able to attend school, drink clean water, [and] get proper medication."

This is a start.

Education

Providing a child with an education, particularly a girl, gives them the opportunity to reach their full potential and help lift their communities out of poverty.

Plan's goal: children and youth will realize their right to quality educationEducation is a fundamental human right and vital to achieving economic growth, increasing income, and sustaining a healthy society. Education is important in helping to improve lives, break the cycle of poverty and ensure that all people, particularly women have control over their destiny.

Despite global progress, 75 million primary school-aged children are still out of school – over half of whom are girls(Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008).

There are many reasons children do not go to school or stay until they are done. They may have to walk a long distance to get to school, have no food to eat at home, there is no teacher or they have to take care of a younger brother or sister.

Plan is committed to ensuring that all girls and boys are able to realize their full potential. We know that children will flourish if they are able to go school, stay there until they finish and learn the basic skills of literacy, mathematics, life skills and critical thinking in a supportive setting. We help them to do this by supporting education initiatives. We work in communities across the globe for the long term, getting to know their needs so we can better help them. This long term assistance also means we are ready to respond when a humanitarian crisis appears.

Plan has three priority areas where we focus our attention and education resources.

Over the past five years, Plan has invested over $180 million in primary education in more than 40 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

What does your support provide?

Plan invests more in basic education than in any other program area. Your support to our education programs provides children, teachers, their families or caregivers and communities with the infrastructure, training, tools, services and support they need for a better education. With your support we can provide:

Quality daycare centers and elementary schools;
Classroom equipment and furniture;
Teaching and learning materials, including current textbooks, maps, globes, teaching manuals, writing supplies, chalkboards, etc.;
Playgrounds and other recreational areas for children;
Training for teachers, principals, and child care providers;
Training of parent-teacher associations and school management committees.

Learn about Plan's early childhood care and development work.

See how Plan's skills training programs are helping communities.

Learn about Plan's school-based health and nutrition programs.

See how Plan is working to get children in Haiti back to school.

Learn More:
Plan pledges extra $55 million for education projects
Investing in the future by investing in children
Transforming lives through education
South Sudan: Plan invests millions in education and peace projects
CNN's Krsna Harilela visits Plan schools in Mali

Europe's economic crisis: Isabel Torres Jobless & evicted Still contributes

2011-11-17T12:46:00.001-08:00

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Nov 17 - Jobless for two years and evicted from her home, Spanish woman Isabel Torres has little faith in her country's future ahead of general elections at the weekend dominated by high unemployment and Europe's economic crisis.
ES-103313 ESPANA / SPAIN from Rosa Isabel Torres Enriquez

Isabel Torres & Sandra Monteiro

Thanks for Rosa Isabel Torres Enriquez!!!

Wonderful castle!!! another UNESCO here again...

HISTORY

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (Galician: Catedral de Santiago de Compostela) is a Roman Catholic cathedral of the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. The cathedral is the reputed burial-place of Saint James the Greater, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. It is the destination of the Way of St. James, a major historical pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages.

According to legend, the apostle Saint James the Greater brought Christianity to the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula. In 44 AD he was beheaded in Jerusalem. His remains were later brought back to Galicia, Spain. Following Roman persecutions of Spanish Christians, his tomb was abandoned in the 3rd century. Still according to legend, this tomb was rediscovered in 814 AD by the hermit Pelayo, after witnessing strange lights in the night sky. Bishop Theodomirus of Iria recognized this as a miracle and informed king Alfonso II of Asturias and Galicia (791-842). The king ordered the construction of a chapel on the site. Legend has it that the king became the first pilgrim to this shrine. This was followed by a first church in 829 AD and again in 899 AD by a pre-Romanesque church, at the order of king Alfonso III of León, causing the gradual development of a major place of pilgrimage. In 997 this early church was reduced to ashes by Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (938-1002), army commander of the caliph of Córdoba, Spain. The gates and the bells, carried by Christian captives to Córdoba, were added to the Aljama Mosque. When Córdoba was taken by king Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236, these same gates and bells were then transported by Muslim captives to Toledo, to be inserted in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo.

Construction of the present cathedral began in 1075 under the reign of Alfonso VI of Castile (1040–1109) and the patronage of bishop Diego Peláez. It was built according to the same plan as the monastic brick church of Saint Sernin in Toulouse, probably the greatest Romanesque edifice in France. It was built mostly in granite. Construction was halted several times and, according to the Liber Sancti Iacobi, the last stone was laid in 1122. But by then, the construction of the cathedral was certainly not finished. The cathedral was consecrated in 1128 in the presence of king Alfonso IX of Leon.

According to the Codex Calixtinus the architects were "Bernard the elder, a wonderful master", his assistant Robertus Galperinus and, later possibly, "Esteban, master of the cathedral works". In the last stage "Bernard, the younger" was finishing the building, while Galperinus was in charge of the coordination. He also constructed a monumental fountain in front of the north portal in 1122.

The church became an episcopal see in 1075 and, due to its growing importance as a place of pilgrimage, it was soon raised to an archiepiscopal see by pope Urban II in 1100. A university was added in 1495.

The cathedral has been embellished and expanded between the 16th and the 18th century.

Non-profit organizations helping homeless veterans find apartments

2011-11-15T17:28:00.001-08:00

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Combat ought to be the most difficult experience our nation's veterans ever endure, and yet many go on to become homeless for eight or nine times the length of their deployments. That is the key finding of a new report by the 100,000 Homes Campaign detailing the widespread health crisis facing America's 76,000 homeless veterans.

Martin Marquardt's story gives that crisis a face. After returning home from Vietnam, Martin struggled to readapt to civilian life, eventually becoming homeless in Phoenix. During nearly thirty years on the streets, he grew increasingly ill before finally finding a home through Project H3 in Phoenix. Tragically, Martin's brother, also a veteran, was not so fortunate. After more than 25 years of homelessness, he passed away in Martin's arms on a park bench in the harsh Arizona summer.

The new report points to thousands of stories like Martin's, collected through interviews with over 23,000 homeless Americans in 47 communities across the country. The communities are participating in the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national movement to house the nation's most vulnerable homeless people, led by Community Solutions.

The numbers make clear that veterans tend to be homeless significantly longer than non-veterans, even after accounting for age. That should worry us all, because the longer a veteran spends on the streets, the more health risks he or she tends to develop. Among the 62% of homeless veterans who reported two or more years of homelessness, more than 61% said they had a serious physical health condition, 55% reported a mental health condition, 76% said they had a substance abuse habit, and 32% reported all three.

Americans need not accept such bleak realities for veterans. We can solve veteran homelessness with practical steps at the federal level and in communities across the country.

Nationally, thanks to the work of the Obama administration and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the number of homeless veterans has already dropped from about 195,000 to about 76,000, and the VA is working tirelessly to bring that figure below 59,000 by the end of June 2012.

At the community level, the 100,000 Homes Campaign is working closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs to help communities house homeless veterans more quickly. The Campaign and its broad roster of creative partners like Home for Good in Los Angeles, the Corporation for Supportive Housing in New York, GOOD Magazine, and Aguiniga Design have developed a process improvement tool--the Housing Placement Boot Camp-- that has already helped Los Angeles and New York City shave an average of 64 days off the typical time it takes to connect a homeless veteran with a stable home.

Last week, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness posted a list, developed by the 100,000 Homes Campaign, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, detailing the top nine things that every community can do to speed up the housing process for homeless veterans. Abbreviated below, the list reflects simple process improvements identified by real community teams on the ground:

Public housing authorities can share their housing inspection standards with non-profit organizations helping veterans find apartments. This allows non-profits to complete informal pre-inspections to help veterans find apartments that will pass required housing quality inspections on the first try. (Days eliminated: 50)

Public housing authorities can eliminate any locally imposed minimum income requirements for housing homeless veterans. (Days eliminated: 44)

Local VA branches can eliminate any requirement that a veteran enter treatment as a condition for receiving a Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) voucher. Such treatment is not required by federal statute. (Days eliminated: 30 to 180)

Public housing authorities can allow use of a veteran's VA's DD-214 form to satisfy their identification requirements, rather than requiring birth certificates and social security cards, which homeless veterans may have lost. (Days eliminated: 30)

Local VA branches can train VASH case managers to access the HINQ (Hospital Inquiry) database. (Days eliminated: 5)

Housing Agency: Negotiate rent-reasonableness with the prospective landlord at the time of the housing inspection. (Days eliminated: 21)

Public housing authorities can issue provisional rent vouchers to enable homeless veterans to begin a housing search while other paperwork is being finalized. (Days eliminated: 7)

Human Services Agencies and local VA branches can co-locate and centralize move-in assistance resources or HPRP (Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program) paperwork with a veterans' service center. (Days eliminated: 55)

Communities can send representatives to the next 100,000 Homes Campaign Housing Placement Boot Camp to discover ways to streamline and shorten their housing placement processes.

These are nine steps that every community can take to house homeless veterans more quickly. Ask your local elected officials if they are implementing them, and reach out to the 100,000 Homes Campaign for help! America's veterans have risked everything and we start by giving something.

Miracle in the Desert of one Somali boy's amazing recovery.

2011-11-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

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Famine-hit Somalia is facing a cholera epidemic amid poor sanitary conditions, World Health Organization officials say.

Famine-hit Somalia is facing a cholera epidemic amid poor sanitary conditions, World Health Organization officials say.

A majority of randomly collected samples of acute watery diarrhea collected from 4,272 patients in Mogadishu tested positive for cholera, the WHO said.

What is cholera?

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. You get it from drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food. About five per cent of infected people will become severely ill and develop profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps.

In severely ill people, cholera will cause rapid dehydration and shock. A severe case left untreated could cause death within a few hours.

Most people who are infected don't get sick, though the bacterium can be present in their feces for up to two weeks.

"The number of cases is two or even three times than what was there last year. So we can say that we have an epidemic of cholera going on," WHO public health adviser Dr. Michel Yao told a news briefing in Geneva, Reuters reported.

So far, he said, there have been 181 acute watery diarrhea-related deaths.

Malnourished children weakened by famine are particularly susceptible to waterborne diseases, the agency said.

The cholera outbreak is fuelled by the many informal settlements springing up in Somalia as large numbers of starving people leave their homes in search of food and other assistance, WHO said.

A lack of clean water for drinking and bathing and overcrowding in camps contribute to the spread of the disease.

UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said Friday that tens of thousands of children have died and countless more are particularly at risk of cholera and other diseases because of drought and violence in East Africa. See more