Djimon Hounsou speaks to a packed room at a reception at the Japan Society last week. Photo by Control Arms

Those who heard Hollywood actor and Oxfam Ambassador Djimon Hounsou at the Japan Society last week were moved by the passion with which he spoke about the Arms Trade Treaty, now in its final week of negotiations at the UN in New York.  Just back from a week-long field visit to South Sudan—a  place struggling to recover from decades of conflict—Hounsou made an eloquent case for why we need the treaty.

“If you could see the strength and dignity of the people of South Sudan, it would astonish you,” he said. “After all they have endured, they press on for a future that they fought and bled for, a future that they believe in, a future that we can support.”

And it’s not just South Sudan that needs our support in this endeavor, it is every country that has suffered from the consequences of armed conflict fed by the uncontrolled global flow of guns and ammunition. The security and rights of millions of people are threatened daily because of the poorly regulated international weapons trade.

That can change. Countless lives can be improved if nations would agree to one simple principle–that there should be no arms transfers when there is the substantial risk that the weapons will be used for war crimes, for serious violations of international human rights law, or for undermining development.

Negotiators have just a few days left to finalize language for the treaty, language that could help make the world a truly safer place. Add your voice to the urgency of this need, and call on President Obama to support a strong Arms Trade Treaty.

Did you have your photo taken by an Oxfam volunteer at a Coldplay concert this summer? Were you drawn into a compelling conversation with someone dressed as a tomato, taco, or giant banana? If so, you might just make a cameo appearance in an exclusive Coldplay tour video. The brand-new video, released today, features special tour footage shared by Coldplay as a way to say thank you to all of the fans who supported Oxfam on their recent world tour:

Here in the US, you may have caught the multiple-Grammy-winning Oxfam ambassadors as they trekked across the country on this summer’s “Mylo Xyloto” tour. Coldplay invited Oxfam America volunteers to join them at every date as a way to spread the word about Oxfam’s GROW Campaign for food justice.

Nearly 600 volunteers joined Coldplay at 28 concerts from coast to coast. Some even took the plunge and dressed up in food costumes, which served as a great conversation starter and helped draw attention to the cause. Thanks to the volunteers’ efforts, 13,000 new US supporters took Oxfam’s GROW pledge this summer. They’ll now be part of the Oxfam community, and will have the opportunity to take action against hunger and tell companies and governments to make our food system fairer for everyone. And that’s an accomplishment well worth celebrating—taco suit not required.

Amadou and Mariam show their support. Photo: Charlotte Wales/Oxfam

If you’re a fellow music fan, you probably caught some of the incredible live performances at the London Olympics closing ceremony last night. From the Who to Annie Lennox to the Spice Girls reunion, all kinds of British musical talent was on display for the world to see.

However, you may not have heard about another event taking place the same day—the Hunger Summit—that also inspired world-renowned artists to come together for a good cause.

To coincide with the end of the world’s biggest gathering of nations, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Brazilian vice-president Michel Temer co-hosted a mini-summit of world leaders, NGOs, and leading businesspeople. They discussed ways to address hunger and malnourishment in some of the world’s poorest countries.

In an open letter to the global media published just before the summit, more than 30 leading musicians, actors, and writers joined forces to call for sustainable solutions to hunger and urgent action on the immediate crisis in the Sahel region. Those signing the letter included Oxfam ambassadors Djimon Hounsou, Angelique Kidjo, and Baaba Maal, as well as Brazilian, British, and African musicians like Sidi Touré (recently interviewed on this blog), Amadou and Mariam, Femi Kuti, Roots Manuva, Gilberto Gil, Mulatu Astatke, and many more.

Sidi Toure's sign reads "drought is natural, hunger is not." Photo: Charlotte Wales/Oxfam

Many of these artists also posed for exclusive photos for the Sahel 2012 campaign led by Oxfam, Africans Act for Africa, and Avaaz. More than 500,000 people worldwide signed the petition demanding concrete action from world leaders in response to the crisis in the Sahel, as well as an investment in long-term solutions to hunger.

In their letter, the artists also make a powerful call for a change in the way we think about Africa and crises like this one. Here’s an excerpt:

Let’s also be clear the solution [to crises] lies in Africa– a continent of vibrant, talented, creative and hardworking people.  Africans need a relationship with the rest of the world that treats them as who they are – equals with something to offer. … Together we can make an African future where ‘charity will have become unnecessary.’

Oxfam is aiming to help 1.2 million people across seven countries with programs that include cash transfers and cash-for-work initiatives, veterinary care for the livestock on which many families depend, and access to clean water and sanitation. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

Fatimata Awade draws water from one of the few remaining wells in Natriguel, Mauritania. Many of the community's wells have run dry due to the recent drought. Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam

Now is a crucial time for farming families across the Sahel region of West Africa, where drought and rising food prices have put an estimated 18 million people at risk of hunger.

Many farmers had poor harvests last year, and they’re struggling to find the resources to re-plant their crops when—and if—this season’s rains begin in the coming weeks. “The situation is difficult here. There’s a problem of rain. It’s been irregular,” said Founé Danfakha, a 60-year-old grandmother of four from Bembou, Senegal, who grows rice, maize, and groundnuts to feed her entire household. “If there’s not enough rain, there won’t be a harvest. And if there is no seed, there’ll be no harvest.”

Oxfam and partner organizations have mobilized across the region, aiming to reach more than a million people with aid. But funding for this emergency still lags far behind the needs.

Kristin Davis. Photo: Oxfam America

That’s why Oxfam’s celebrity ambassadors have also gotten involved in the effort: to use their voices to help raise funds and awareness. Yesterday, for example, actors and Oxfam supporters Kristin Davis and Djimon Hounsou launched individual fund-raising pages to support Oxfam’s response to the crisis.

“Sadly, there are still those who are not aware of the dire need that West Africa is in right now,” wrote Hounsou on his fund-raising page. “The people there are facing drought and a severe food crisis. To some of us, this problem is a world away and is easy to ignore, but I implore you to pay attention.”

Davis, who’s traveled with Oxfam to countries like Uganda, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Kenya, said she wanted her fund-raising page to help call attention a crisis that hasn’t been covered in the news. “One of my main goals with working and traveling with Oxfam is to get the truth,” she wrote. “The truth of what’s really happening to people around the world—the truth that doesn’t seem to make headlines.”

Oxfam is aiming to help 1.2 million people across seven countries with programs that include cash transfers and cash-for-work initiatives, veterinary care for the livestock on which many families depend, and access to clean water and sanitation. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

Angela Bruce Raeburn is Oxfam America’s senior policy adviser for humanitarian response in Haiti. Last month, she visited the largest “spontaneous settlement” in Port-au-Prince.

This photo at the Petionville golf camp was taken 10 months after the earthquake in Haiti. Photo by Chris Hufstader / Oxfam America.

Located at the end of a winding road in the posh part of town, past the home of the US Ambassador to Haiti and the tennis courts, sits a golf course. It is the site of a make-shift camp plastered with the big letters naming the large aid agencies that have provided assistance here since the earthquake.

It has also been the home of approximately 16,000 men, women, and children since January 2010 when the quake decimated the already fragile and tenuous lives they once led.

Romelus Raynald, the coordinator of water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion activities at the camp, noted: “The people come to my office and they tell me their stories. They want work, they want food, and they want their kids to go to school.”

Raynald is an impressive, soft-spoken man whose face is an open book of sadness and details about the camp and its residents. He says that the camp population has fallen from about 9,000 families to roughly 4,500 families. “Many have returned to their homes, others have found alternative homes and temporary shelters.”

“But those who are left behind truly have no place to go. “There has not been a lot offered by anyone to help. It is really Sean who has helped us.” Read the rest of this entry »

Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin getting a taste of the local food and drink in Ethiopia. Photo credit: Audra Melton / Oxfam.

NFL wide receivers Anquan Boldin of the Baltimore Ravens and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals are currently in Ethiopia with Oxfam staff to raise awareness about the food crisis in East Africa and see first-hand the effects of the drought. During the trip the players are meeting with local people, Oxfam partner organizations, and Ethiopian athletes. They are also visiting Oxfam development projects.

The players participated in a live call with fans and Oxfam supporters and from the field today. Fitzgerald said on the call: “I’m blessed to be able to come over here. And I feel like the work that we’re trying to do, the attention that we’re trying to raise, and the awareness is not going to fall on deaf ears.”

Listen to a full recording of their conversation.

Watch a Public Service Announcement from the players. And donate now to help save lives in East Africa.

Ubah Hassan is a model and activist, and the President and Co-founder of Maji Umbrellas. Ubah has also served as a spokesperson for FEED projects and recently became a Sisters on the Planet Ambassador for Oxfam America.

As a model, I promote luxury goods—handbags, shoes, and couture clothing. But as an activist, social entrepreneur, and native of Somalia, I know what real luxury is: access to clean water.

Since the July 2011 declaration of famine in Somalia by the United Nations, I have been thinking a lot about water and food shortages in the Horn of Africa. I recently partnered with Oxfam America and created Maji Umbrellas to raise awareness about the crisis in East Africa and money for the 13 million people affected by the drought and famine. Maji will donate a portion of each umbrella purchase to Oxfam America’s relief work in East Africa, enough to provide a day’s supply of clean water to 20 people.

One in eight people has inadequate access to water supplies. And that lack of clean water claims more lives each year than all forms of violence on the planet combined.

The numbers are shocking. And the reality’s even worse.

I know firsthand what it’s like to go thirsty. I was born in Somalia and, at the age of seven, fled this war-torn country to Kenya with my brother and father. There were many days in Kenya when my family, neighbors, and I went with very little water. Sometimes the water pipe in my town would break or the water would get contaminated. When that happened, we’d travel for hours to the next village to get water. And once we got there, we had to wait for hours while others who arrived before us filled their canteens. Read the rest of this entry »

L to R: Actress/model Kimora Lee, actor Djimon Hounsou wearing Ermenegildo Zegna, actor Emile Hirsch, actor Colin Firth wearing Ermenegildo Zegna, Livia Firth, President of Oxfam America Raymond Offenheiser wearing Ermenegildo Zegna, actress Kristin Davis, Anna Zegna and and Publisher of Vanity Fair Edward Menicheschi attend the Vanity Fair and Ermenegildo Zegna Dinner hosted by Colin & Livia Firth and Anna Zegna, in support of Oxfam America and The Green Carpet Challenge. Photo by Donato Sardella/Getty Images for VF

Lyndsay Cruz is Oxfam America’s senior advisor for public figures, working with celebrities to amplify Oxfam’s work around the world.

This past Wednesday night, Vanity Fair, Oxfam Ambassadors Colin and Livia Firth, and Italian clothing designer Ermenegildo Zegna hosted an event at the Chateau Marmont in LA to benefit Oxfam America and the Green Carpet Challenge. Anna Zegna, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, and Oxfam America’s president Ray Offenheiser joined Celebrity Ambassadors  Kristin Davis, Djimon Hounsou and his wife Kimora Lee Simmons, and Emile Hirsh. Other celebrity  supporters in attendance included Mia Wasikowska, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Cameron Diaz, Gary Oldman, and Kenneth Branagh. (You can read more about the event in the LA Times and watch video coverage on Entertainment Tonight.)

The Green Carpet Challenge, founded by Oxfam Ambassador Livia Firth and British journalist Lucy Siegle, pairs glamour and ethics to raise the profile of sustainable style at the world’s most high profile red carpet events. Oxfam is a charitable partner of the Green Carpet Challenge.

Check out more photos from the benefit event below:

Read the rest of this entry »

Along with millions of other Americans, I’ll be watching Anquan Boldin and the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL playoffs this weekend—but my mind will be in Ethiopia.

I traveled to southern Ethiopia not long ago to visit Oxfam America’s programs in the area. As we drove, my colleague Tewodros Negash explained why Oxfam uses its cash-for-work program to pay communities to clear brush from the fields by hand, something they’ve done for generations by setting controlled fires. As it turns out, the winds, which for as long as anyone can remember have been predictable, are now wholly unreliable. It used to be that people could set fire to the brush, rely on the wind to control the flames, and have a field that was clear in time for the rains. The grass would grow and their animals would have a place to graze. But with wind that’s unpredictable, and rain that’s even more so, communities must now take steps to survive the effects of climate change.

Just weeks later I told that story to Boldin and his friend and former teammate Larry Fitzgerald, NFL wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, during a meeting to discuss Oxfam America’s work. Boldin and Fitzgerald learned this summer of the devastating drought in East Africa and were looking for ways to help, which is why they reached out to Oxfam.

“I’ve been to the Horn of Africa before,” Fitzgerald, who will be appearing in the Pro Bowl for the seventh time later this month, told Yahoo! Sports Radio in a recent interview. “And I’ve seen some of the effects of the drought myself. … When you see [people affected by drought] you definitely want to do something because they are in dire need.”

Since then, in between catching footballs and evading linebackers and safeties, Boldin and Fitzgerald have raised money for Oxfam America on Twitter and Facebook, filmed a public service announcement (below) and used their high profiles to bring attention to the crisis.

Read the rest of this entry »

Skye Wheeler is the Humanitarian Press Officer for Oxfam America.

As the English wife of an American I am occasionally called upon to defend our royal family.  “What are they for?” people ask.

A discussion about the Windsor family is beyond the scope of this short blog but I was glad to see William and Kate providing one answer to the question today in Copenhagen where they toured UNICEF’s enormous warehouse to bring attention to the drought in east Africa right now.  In Somalia the drought, together with conflict there and a lack of development over many years, has amounted to more than 750,000 people at risk of dying from famine.

William and Kate join their voices with other celebrities who have already tried to call attention to the massive humanitarian emergency in the horn of Africa right now.

Oxfam ambassadors Scarlett Johansson and Kristin Davis have brought attention to the very difficult situation hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya are facing.  Read about Scarlett Johansson and Kristin Davis‘ trips to East Africa, and how they responded to the stories they heard in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp (the world’s biggest). And learn about Djimon Hounsou’s Twitter fund-raising campaign for Oxfam’s work in East Africa.

Oxfam Ambassador Scarlett Johansson meets with a camp leader in the Dadaab Camp, Northern Kenya. Photo: Andy Hall/Oxfam

Celebrities are important messengers for crises like this one. They get people interested in something that otherwise might feel just like something happening very far away.  But they’re also just people and have normal people reactions to seeing this kind of hardship.  Dadaab’s security situation is too bad right now to make a royal visit likely any time soon, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see how Kate and William would respond to the world’s biggest refugee camp?

Oxfam aims to reach more than 3 million people throughout East Africa with a variety of support, including food aid, clean water, and veterinary care for animals. We are drilling and repairing wells and distributing fuel vouchers to ensure that pumps on the wells can keep operating—even if people have no money. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.