Mia Farrow writes from Chad

You can read today's editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Mia Farrow here, dated March 16, 2010. It's short and simple, but a cause she is quite passionate about, and unlike some celebrities who seem to have the knack of touching down with hurricanes and earthquakes, she has stayed with this one.

She calls Chad "desolate and powerfully beautiful." I suspect she admires their simple and primitive culture--certainly different from her own. But it's that culture which is starving those babies and children staring back at us from her web page. Their leader is 90 years old; their development minimal to non-existent. No big carbon footprint here--not even green technology. Nothing. And they are dying. And if a few are saved with infant formula, what about next year and the next? Will they be struck down with malaria or some other vector borne disease that Western environmentalists won't let them fight with pesticides?

She says, "The numbers of starving children far exceed the capacity of Unicef's emergency feeding center. Cases of formula and life-saving nutrients are arriving, but many children are already too weak to swallow. The Chadian government must urgently take action, along with the World Food Program and other relief agencies before it is too late." Unfortunately, corrupt African governments combined with 50 years of guilt-ridden Western hand-outs and food programs have destroyed the local economies--especially the farmers and small businesses. Who can compete with free food or free clothing, so the land goes untended, and the cycle is repeated. We're already hearing about this in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where the food donations for the desperate and battered people are destroying the little food stands that support families.

I certainly don't have the answer--but neither do UNICEF and the World Food Program and the clutch of non-profits and Christian agencies who have served in these areas for half a century.