By Elizabeth Willoughby on
After disappointing results from the latest G8 Summit in Japan, Oxfam is organizing a desperately needed food drive for Africa’s east region. Actors Colin Firth, John Hannah, and Daniela Nardini are campaigning for Britons to answer Oxfam’s call.
As food prices continue to rise, the people of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are finding it increasingly difficult to feed themselves, millions verging on destitution.
A Make Trade Fair campaigner since 2002, Colin Firth is a vigorous supporter of Oxfam projects.
“It’s devastating to hear that these people are facing another food crisis,” he told The Press Association. “A dangerous storm of factors – drought, conflict, grinding poverty and skyrocketing food prices – have stacked on top of each other and are pushing people over the edge. Malnutrition rates have spiked and children grow ever hungrier each day.”
Frustrated with the Summit results, Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said, “Several governments championed steps to tackle the crucial issues sitting on the G8 agenda, but in the end this summit did not deliver the breakthroughs that are so urgently needed. The consensus reached was shallow at best… Rich country biofuels are a major cause of the global food crisis at this moment, yet the leaders barely mentioned them and blithely continue to burn food in their cars. It’s like discussing the Titanic but failing to talk about the iceberg.”
“Oxfam desperately needs the support of the British public,” says Firth, “to help avert catastrophe and keep people alive.”
See Oxfam’s Big Heads video here
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
