We have now sent two DC-8 flights full of tons of relief to Ethiopia for people displaced by violent conflict.
Update (Feb. 26): A second Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 airlift departed Feb. 26 from Greensboro, North Carolina, carrying supplies for displaced people living in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. This flight will deliver additional relief supplies, including thousands of solar lanterns and more than a thousand rolls of tarp for repairing or constructing shelters.
Samaritan’s Purse teams are distributing supplemental nutrition to parents of children in need.
Our work is expanding into new sites in Tigray as access to these communities grows. We have provided more than 200 families with food baskets, cooking kits, and hygiene kits. More than 1,000 children have received supplemental nutrition. Many more such distributions are expected in the coming days.
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On Feb. 12, Samaritan’s Purse airlifted 1,800 cases of ready-to-use supplemental food supplies to help feed suffering children in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of families have fled their homes in the region due to violent conflict and are living wherever they can—in schools or on the side of the road. Many children among them are at risk for severe malnutrition.
“Ethiopian families in Tigray are in trouble,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “They are struggling to feed their children after months of endless conflict depleted local resources. We are seeing extreme needs—children are malnourished, families are hungry, and millions are suffering. Please pray for these families—that we can reach the most vulnerable people with life-saving support, feed the hungry, and do it all in Jesus’ Name.”
Our Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) is preparing to distribute enough ready-to-eat food to nourish 18,000 children for up to 30 days. This supplementary feeding is critical for hungry children, providing the right nutrients and protein to ensure a child’s basic needs are met.
Our teams and local partners prepare to deliver emergency food to suffering communities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
An additional group of disaster response specialists have been on the ground in Tigray, working alongside local church partners and in coordination with the World Food Programme, to meet people’s urgent needs. In addition to the airlift, Samaritan’s Purse is trucking in enough food baskets to feed 1,000 families for a month. These baskets include rice, wheat flour, beans, oil, and salt.
Families will also be provided with hygiene kits, solar lights, and cooking equipment.
The dire situation these desperate people face may quickly deteriorate further without immediate relief. In addition to armed conflict, the people of Tigray have had their struggles compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and swarms of locusts that have devastated crops in the area.
Please pray for these suffering people and that peace will come to this region. Please pray also for our teams as we serve in Jesus’ Name in the midst of a growing humanitarian crisis.
