Every six minutes — the approximate time it takes to walk from Marshall Street to the Quad — a child under the age of 5 dies from acute malnutrition in the Horn of Africa. The affected area encompasses Somalia as well as parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. In southern Somalia especially, nearly 4 million Somalis are at risk of starvation over the next few months. Young children are the most susceptible and most affected. We are thereby presented with an opportunity to embrace Scholarship in Action.

In light of this, a benefit concert titled ‘Songs for Somalia’ will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Schine Underground to raise desperately needed funds for relief efforts in the Horn of Africa. Student organizations, including STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, the African Student Union, Muslim Student Association and She’s the First, have come together to set up this concert with some of Syracuse University’s finest talent. Well-known campus groups like Otto Tunes and Groovestand will play alongside students Marcus Belmore and Demarcus Woods. The concert will also feature a sampling from Two Degrees, a nutrition bar company that uses its profits to provide needed nutrition packs to the famine-affected areas. We may not be able to fully stop the humanitarian tragedy in East Africa, but we can take steps to do so by doing our part to assist relief efforts.

For $5, each attendee can help support famine relief in Somalia by picking up a ticket to ‘Songs for Somalia’ at the Schine Box Office. All of the ticket proceeds will go to Valid Nutrition, a locally sourced nutrition pack enterprise that provides very effective remedies for chronic malnutrition in the Horn of Africa.

Luke Lanciano, STAND Chapter, president; Kadiah Kamara, African Student Union, president; Amy Snider, She’s the First, chapter president; Azhar Ali, Muslim Student Association, president