The Spectator

Do you see the spectator in this picture? Probably not. The spectator is holding the camera. In 1993, a journalist by the name of Kevin Carter made a life changing trip as a photographer to Sudan. As the story is told, he heard the sounds of a whimpering child outside of his tent one night. He followed the sounds to an emaciated toddler, a little girl stopping to rest as she tried to get to a feeding center nearby. There was another figure in this scene, the vulture waiting for the little girl to die.

At this point in the story, it is unclear what happened next. Some say that Carter clicked the camera and simply turned and walked away. Others say that he clicked the camera and then chased the vulture away. What we do know to be true is that the little girl remained there in the dirt, without help and without food. No one that we know of yelled for help, picked her up or ran to get food and water. Most likely, the vulture waited patiently until the end of life came for her.

Carter was not only a photographer. He was another spectator who could have helped but did not - he passed the girl by. He sold the photo to the New York Times where it appeared in March 1993. A year later, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in May 1994.

Three months later, in July 1994 Carter drove to an area where he used to play as a child, and took his own life at the age of 33. The note he left behind shared the despair of a troubled man.

Today, in full view of the world, there are 30,000 children who die daily from hunger and the effects of extreme malnutrition. 30,000 children who are weak, starving and alone. As with the vulture in this picture, death awaits these children.

And now in 2011, in just the past few months alone, that number of children have perished in the Horn of Africa for lack of food, water and basic medicine. Our mission is to change the projection on how many children will perish this time.

Desperate Somali mothers are abandoning their dying children by the roadside as they travel to overwhelmed emergency food centers in drought-hit eastern Africa. One of the relief camps in Dadaab, Kenya that was built for 90,000 people now holds 400,000.

Women and children are always the most at risk in any crisis but this one is the worst in 60 years. It is being called the "children's famine" given the number of children at risk of death or permanent stunting of their brains and bodies due to hunger. The roads to Dadaab are becoming roads of death where mothers are having to abandon their children who are too weak to make it or who have died along the way.

Food supplies are urgently needed for millions of malnourished children. Unless this food help arrives quickly, the population of vultures may increase.  Our mission at the Kids Against Hunger "Factory" is clear. We will deliver 4+ million meals to the Horn of Africa which is the equivalent of 15 rail cars of food. And we will do it soon.

As this humanitarian crisis unfolds, there are spectators who hear our plea for help and walk the other way. Fortunately, there are people who have offered to help with their time, talents and treasures - thank you! If you have not helped as yet, please consider your decision. Click on the images below to learn how to help.