Nonbelief Relief, a nonreligious humanitarian agency, is giving $10,000 to UNICEF for famine relief efforts in Somalia.
International aid officials recently announced that they are facing one of the biggest humanitarian disasters since World War II. Both drought and war have devastated Somalia. Up to four famines — in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen — are breaking out at once, endangering more than 20 million lives, according to The New York Times.
“Those of us who are not religious care deeply about this world, our only world,” says Nonbelief Relief Director Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We appreciate UNICEF’s work in Somalia and nearby nations, and we want to help it save lives.”
UNICEF indicates that it’s short not just millions, but billions, of dollars, at a time when President Trump is seeking to cut assistance to the United Nations and foreign aid. The United States typically has provided more disaster relief than any other nation.
Religion-fueled war is adding to the misery in Somalia. The military Islamist group Shabab has banned Western aid agencies from the country.
And pollution from nations such as the United States is possibly contributing to the climate change-induced drought devastating Somalia and South Sudan. The drought has impoverished many previously prospering people in the region whose income depends on livestock.
Nonbelief Relief was incorporated in 2015, with the Freedom From Religion Foundation as its sole member, and a board created to carry out the donations. It seeks to remediate conditions of human suffering and injustice on a global scale, whether the result of natural disasters, human actions or adherence to religious dogma.
Donations to Nonbelief Relief, which are deductible for income-tax purposes, may be made via FFRF by designating Nonbelief Relief in the donation dropdown. Your donation will enable Nonbelief Relief to continue to make humanitarian donations in the name of nontheism and freethought.
