Oxfam Goes Into Congo

From Oxfam America:

Oxfam Goes Into Congo

Since war broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998, more than five million people have died—most of them from lack of access to food and health care. And though the conflict officially ended in 2003, fighting has continued, mainly in the country’s eastern provinces.

Today, the humanitarian situation in eastern Congo is among the worst in the world. Oxfam staff members recently returned from Congo and have written about what they saw and how our work is making a difference in the lives of thousands of people. Check out the Congo feature on our home page today.

It’s Been a Year: Where Is the Darfur Peacekeeping Force?

One year ago, the UN announced that a peacekeeping force would finally be sent into Darfur to protect civilians and aid workers. However, a full year after its creation, the force has just a fraction of its planned troop strength and is struggling to do its job. International leaders have failed to provide the promised troops and equipment—and the violence has continued.

Tell President Bush to do all he can to fully deploy the international peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Help Fight the Global Food Crisis!

As food prices soar by as much as 80 percent around the globe, already impoverished people are facing increasingly dire prospects for hunger, malnutrition, and disease.

Oxfam is working to empower communities to respond with their own life-changing solutions: village savings groups, innovative rice-growing techniques, seed banks, irrigation projects, and more. Will you help us today?

Please donate now.

Join Oxfam’s Humanitarian Action Team

Join our new team of supporters from around the US, and help take the lead on humanitarian issues and emergencies. When you sign up, you’ll join a core group dedicated to creating lasting change by influencing US legislation on humanitarian issues such as the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the earthquake in China, and the global food crisis. Please join today!

A New Way to Measure Well-Being (and Track the Communities Left Behind)

Oxfam America helped fund the development of a new measure of well-being for all Americans. It combines health, education, and income into a unique, at-a-glance index of where communities stand, and it has helped highlight some of the major inequalities in the US. For instance, people in the last-ranked state of Mississippi are living 30 years behind those in first-ranked Connecticut. To learn more about the report and where your community falls, click here.