On September 17th 2011, Atlantic Global Aid hosted a fundraising dinner featuring Maine’s Second District Congressman Mike Michaud and Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert, as well as leaders from the local Somali-American community and board members of Atlantic Global Aid. Funds raised during the event support AGA’s mission to deliver medical supplies and nutritional aid to victims of famine and drought in Somalia and Kenya.
Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed, executive director of Atlantic Global Aid, and Jim Lysen, a member of the board of directors of Atlantic Global Aid, represented the organization at the Social Impact Expo at Harvard University on Thursday. AGA was invited to the Expo, which is a way to help recent graduates of Harvard to find jobs.
Atlantic Global Aid is the first Maine-based charity to have an office on ground in the horn of Africa. Our focus is building capacity for sustainability through regular humanitarian missions, youth empowerment and education programs, and health care training and mobilization.
Check out the photographs below of AGA at Harvard University.
Join Partners for World Health and Atlantic Global Aid on December 6 for…
Global Health Education Series
ATLANTIC GLOBAL AID
KENYA
Ijara District Hospital – Masalani
50 Bed Community Hospital caring for the Somali Refugees coming across the border in northeastern Kenya. Atlantic Global Aid is a 501c3 non profit organization based in Maine charged with supporting this hospital and caring for those in need. Come and hear Abdi Ahmed share his philosophy and knowledge about a hospital trying to make a difference.
Founder: Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed, Registered Pharmacist
Time: December 6, 2011; 6pm
Place: Partners for World Health, 7 Glasgow Road, Scarborough
Info: FREE and open to the public! All are invited so bring your friends!
Dec 11
3
Trip to the Ijara District
We have compiled the video footage from our trip last May to the Ijara District in northeastern Kenya. Our trip was very successful and we did an assessment of health and education in the Garissa and Ijara districts. During our trip we met Kenyan officials as well as the USAID team in Kenya. They welcomed us and shared with us all the significant information about northeastern Kenya and its medical needs.
View the video footage below and considering donating to fund our work.
LEWISTON: Mayor Laurent F. Gilbert, Sr., will be attending a fundraising event for aid to Somalia and Kenya on September 17, 2011, and encourages residents to join him. The fundraiser will be held at Lewiston’s Multi-Purpose Center, 145 Birch Street, commencing at 6:30 p.m. It will be hosted by Atlantic Global Aid and Partners for World Health, representatives of whom were at the Mayor’s recent press conference that focused on the desperate conditions abroad.
The September 17th fundraiser will bring needed medical supplies and nutritional supplements to the drought victims in Somalia and Kenya.
The multi-cultural dinner entitled, “Mainers Answering the Call to Help to Relieve the Famine in the Horn of Africa,” will feature guest speakers The Honorable Congressman Michael Michaud and Lewiston’s Mayor Gilbert. Tickets will be available at the door or reserved and paid for at www.atlanticglobal.org/donate-now/ Individual or business tickets may be purchased at whichever price level an attendee prefers to contribute– $20, $50, or $100 for an individual ticket or $100, $200, or $250 for a business ticket.
Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed, Executive Director of Atlantic Global Aid, states, “We cannot ignore as Mainers to let these children starve to death. We have to do whatever we can to save lives. Malnutrition is taking its toll on Somali children. Three-quarters of a million people are facing death by starvation in Somalia, according to the United Nations (UN) which has declared that famine has spread to the sixth southern region of the beleagured Horn of Africa State.”
The United Nation’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit has reported that already “tens of thousands have died,” and “hundreds” more are still dying each day. “In total, four million people are in crisis in Somalia, with 750,000 people at risk of death in the coming four months in the absence of adequate response,” the report concluded.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, adds, “We can’t underestimate the scale of the crisis. This is the most serious harvest failure in 17 years, and there is a continuing deterioration. Other areas in the country are also falling into the critical category.”
Gilbert points out utter despair in the crowded wards of Banadir Hospital in Central Mogadishu that bear witness to the pain and suffering of famine victims. Children, some silent, some whimpering in pain are on plastic mattresses. One mother, Muslima Hassan Aden, was seen sitting on the floor cradling her two-year-old daughter, Shiqri, whose body was blotched with measles and whose eyes barely registered her mother’s face. “She was such an active child, fit and always playing,” Aden, 28, said, “but our crops failed after we saw no rain for three years. All of our animals have died.”
More than 100,000 people have arrived in Somalia’s seaside capital in recent months, driven from their rural homes by the hope of aid. The UN’s World Food Program is handing out more than 100,000 hot meals a day.
Gilbert notes that “They just keep coming, and we need all the help possible to offer assistance to these individuals.”
About Atlantic Global Aid
Atlantic Global Aid (AGA) is a Maine-based 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit corporation established in 2010 and registered with USAID. Our Board of Directors, Advisory Board, volunteers, and staff are comprised of leading medical practitioners, educators, nonprofit leaders, and business managers.
Mission: Our mission is building capacity for sustainability through regular humanitarian missions, Youth empowerment, education programs through health care training and mobilization. We support the youth in providing Livelihood training programs in leadership, community building skills, health education in HIV and STD awareness. We promote civic education and life skill development training and peace promotion. We will increase the Role of the African Diaspora in Relief, Development and Peace-building participation in their homelands.