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Story from 60 minutes on CBS 11/13/11

Somalia famine baby back from brink of death

Story courtesy of By KATHARINE HOURELD - Associated Press | AP – Wed, Nov 9, 2011..

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — As Minhaj Gedi Farah lay silently on a hospital bed three months ago, even his mother had given up hope that the skeletal Somali baby would live. Weeks of intensive feeding, though, have transformed him into a chubby-cheeked boy who crawls.

The is one of several stories highlighted Wednesday in an annual New York fundraising event held by the aid group International Rescue Committee, which helped nurse Minhaj back to health.

Famine has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Somali children this year, but the U.N. said despite restrictions by Islamist insurgents, heavy rains and fighting, aid agencies are expanding their reach. Food aid is now getting to 2.2 million of the 4 million Somalis who need it, the U.N. said.

"His mother never thought he would recover. Every member of his family is happy," said Sirat Amin, a nurse-nutritionist with the International Rescue Committee who has been monitoring Minhaj's progress. "He can sit without being supported, he can have (nutritional supplement) Plumpynut on his own. He's crawling."

[Donate to the International Rescue Committee]

In July, the month that the U.N. declared parts of Somalia famine zones, Minhaj was one of dozens of limp babies lying under mosquito net shrouds in the sweltering wards of the IRC hospital in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp. Seven-month-old Minhaj weighed only 3.2 kilograms (7.05 pounds), less than some newborns.

Pictures of his gaunt cheeks and bulging eyes made him the face of the famine. But after weeks of intensive feeding with Plumpynut — a kind of sweetened peanut butter packed with nutrients — he is nearly 8 kilograms (17.64 pounds), almost normal for a boy his age.

Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of thousands of Somali families have poured over the border, fleeing war and hunger. Domes made from dirty tarpaulins and scraps of cloth mushroomed on the scrublands of northern Kenya and the U.N.'s famine announcement brought planeloads of television crews to capture images of their suffering.

Now the torrent of refugees fleeing into Kenya has slowed to a trickle and the camera crews have gone home. But that doesn't mean the emergency is over.

Nearly 2 million Somalis still don't have access to food aid. Rain has turned tracks through the bush to slush and there's been fighting along the border after hundreds of Kenyan soldiers crossed into Somalia. Last month's incursion followed a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil by Somali gunmen.

Families wanting to flee may fear being caught up in the fighting or be stuck in the mud. Only the strongest are getting through. When they arrive, they are not only starving but sick and exhausted, Amin said. So although less are coming, when they arrive in the refugee camps in Kenya many are in a more severe state of starvation.

The ward where Amin works has been expanded by two tents, but even so, 78 children are sharing 56 beds. That's about twice as many as when Minhaj was admitted. Some children are in even worse condition than he was.

Many of the new arrivals come in with diarrhea, cases of cholera, or secondary infections. Amin and other aid agencies say that deaths from illness are likely to rocket as weakened immune systems contend with the cold rains and diseases spread by puddles of dirty water.

The U.N. Children's Fund said around 168,0000 acutely malnourished children under the age of 5 could die within weeks. They are concerned about infectious diseases like measles, cholera and malaria, particularly in the dirty and overcrowded camps in the capital of Mogadishu.

"The famine is not over ... Children are dying on a daily basis," said Hannan Sulieman, UNICEF's deputy representative for the Somalia mission. "Malnutrition has been way above emergency levels for over 10 years."

She said that her organization was planning to maintain current levels of aid until August or September next year, when Somalia would have had a long and a short rain harvest.

The famine is the worst emergency to hit Somalia for a generation. The U.N. has appealed for $1 billion and has got $779 million so far.

But aid still doesn't reach many of the starving. Islamist militias battling the weak U.N.-backed government have forbidden many aid agencies to operate in their territory, exacerbating the effects of a severe drought.

So even after their parents have struggled through the mud, have made it past the militias and have staggered into the hospital, it is still too late for many, said Amin.

"I'm coping with it but sometimes it's heartbreaking. People are suffering. Sometimes they die in front of you," he said. "Sometimes you want to help but the numbers are just so high. There are just so many."

But seeing children like Minhaj recover gives him the strength to go on.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP, DONATE HERE:

https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=135660870&source=YWWS&cmpgn=NPO40

(Thanks to PF Coulson for the story)

100 Year Old Finishes Baltimore Marathon

Guiness Book of World Records holder for oldest marathon finisher
Credits: Huff Post.


The day after the Baltimore Marathon, a new record was placed in the Guinness Book of World Records. A 100-year-old man finishes a marathon.

As if reaching the age of 100 isn't an accomplishment in its own, Mr. Fauja Singh finished the Toronto Marathon in just over 8-hours making him the oldest person to ever finish a marathon.

This was not Mr. Singh's first record or marathon. Singh has completed eight marathons with his first marathon completed at the age of 89. He finished in 5:40:01 in 2003 and already secured is spot in the Book of Records.

Singh already holds the record for oldest person to run a marathon, but he also earned the record for eight other distances as well. It would seem '8' is a very good number for Mr. Singh. "Achieving this is like getting married again", Singh told the Huff Post after finish the race. Race organizers were already taking down the finish line and fencing as Singh was the last to cross the finish line.

CNN Heroes

(CNN) -- War widows, "motel kids" and the working poor are among the many people who have been helped by this year's top 10 CNN Heroes.

The top 10 -- remarkable everyday people changing the world -- were revealed Thursday by CNN's Anderson Cooper. All were nominated by CNN viewers inspired by their hard work and commitment.

Each of the top 10 will receive a $50,000 grant and be honored at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," a globally broadcast event that airs December 11 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

One of the top 10 will be voted CNN Hero of the Year by the public and receive an additional $250,000.

The live tribute show, hosted by Cooper at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, will culminate in the announcement of the CNN Hero of the Year.


Through December 7, people can vote for their favorite Hero at CNNHeroes.com. They can also vote from mobile devices.

This is the fifth year CNN has conducted its annual search for CNN Heroes. In those five years, the campaign has profiled more than 160 people on CNN and CNN.com. And there have been roughly 40,000 nominations received from more than 100 countries.

Here are the top 10 Heroes of 2011, in alphabetical order:

Eddie Canales
Eddie Canales' son was paralyzed during a high school football game in 2001. Today, Canales' nonprofit, Gridiron Heroes, provides emotional and financial support to high school football players who've sustained life-changing spinal cord injuries.

Taryn Davis
Taryn Davis was just 21 when her husband, an Army corporal, was killed in Iraq. In 2007, she created the American Widow Project. To date, her nonprofit has provided a community of support to nearly 800 young military widows.

Sal Dimiceli
Sal Dimiceli has spent decades helping people get back on their feet. Through a local newspaper column and his nonprofit, The Time Is Now To Help, Dimiceli assists about 500 people a year with food, rent, utilities and other necessities.

Elena Durón Miranda
Elena Durón Miranda once witnessed children eating and collecting items from a trash dump in Bariloche, Argentina. Today, her nonprofit, PETISOS, helps keep about 200 children out of the dump and enrolled in school.

Derreck Kayongo
Derreck Kayongo's Global Soap Project collects partially used hotel soap and reprocesses it to save lives. Since 2009, the Atlanta-based nonprofit has provided more than 100,000 bars of soap for communities in nine countries.

Diane Latiker
Surrounded by gang violence in her Chicago neighborhood, Diane Latiker opened her home to area youth and started a community program called Kids Off the Block. Today, she has turned the building next door into a safe place for more than 300 young people.

Robin Lim
Robin Lim became a midwife after her sister died from complications during pregnancy. Since 2003, she and her team in Indonesia have helped thousands of low-income women have a healthy pregnancies and births.

Patrice Millet
After being stricken with cancer, Patrice Millet dedicated his life to helping children in his native Haiti. His nonprofit youth soccer program provides free equipment, coaching and food to hundreds of participants from the slums and teaches them to become responsible citizens.

Bruno Serato
Since 2005, chef Bruno Serato has been serving free pasta dinners to children, many of whom are poor and live in motels with their families. Today, Serato provides dinner seven days a week to nearly 200 children at the Boys & Girls Club in Anaheim, California.

Amy Stokes
Amy Stokes is redefining "family" for South African children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Her organization, Infinite Family, has connected almost 300 teenage "Net Buddies" with nearly 200 volunteer mentors from all over the world via the Internet.

Read more on CNN online!

BYE BYE Don't Ask Don't Tell!

After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.

Repeal of a 1993 law that allowed gays to serve only so long as they kept their sexual orientation private took effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
Some in Congress still oppose the change, but top Pentagon leaders have certified that it will not undermine the military's ability to recruit or to fight wars.

The Army was distributing a business-as-usual statement Tuesday saying simply, "The law is repealed," and reminding soldiers to treat each other fairly.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, scheduled a Pentagon news conference to field questions about the repeal. And a bipartisan group of congressional supporters of allowing openly gay service planned a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Gay advocacy groups planned a series of celebrations across the country.
At a San Diego bar, current and former troops danced and counted down to midnight. "You are all heroes," Sean Sala, a former Navy operations specialist, said. "The days of your faces being blacked out on the news - no more."
In Iraq, a spokesman for U.S forces put out a statement Tuesday morning noting that all troops there had been trained for the change.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said Monday that the military is adequately prepared for the end of the current policy, commonly known as "don't ask, don't tell," under which gays can serve as long as they don't openly acknowledge their sexual orientation and commanders are not allowed to ask.
"No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal," Little said.

Last week, the Pentagon said 97 percent of the military has undergone training in the new law.

For weeks the military services have accepted applications from openly gay recruits, while waiting for repeal to take effect before processing the applications.

With the lifting of the ban, the Defense Department will publish revised regulations to reflect the new law allowing gays to serve openly. The revisions, such as eliminating references to banned homosexual service, are in line with policy guidance that was issued by top Pentagon officials in January, after Obama signed the legislation that did away with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The lifting of the 18-year-old ban also brings a halt to all pending investigations, discharges and other administrative proceedings that were begun under the Clinton-era law.

Existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will continue regardless of sexual orientation.
There also will be no immediate changes to eligibility standards for military benefits. All service members already are entitled to certain benefits and entitlements, such as designating a partner as one's life insurance beneficiary or as designated caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program.

Gay marriage is one of the thornier issues. An initial move by the Navy earlier this year to train chaplains about same-sex civil unions in states where they are legal was halted after more than five dozen lawmakers objected. The Pentagon is reviewing the issue.

Service members who were discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" law will be allowed to re-enlist, but their applications will not be given priority over those of any others with prior military experience who are seeking to re-enlist.
Some in Congress remain opposed to repeal, arguing that it may undermine order and discipline.

A leading advocate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Monday the repeal is overdue.

"Our nation will finally close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians, and indeed affirm equality for all Americans," the California Democrat said.

(coutesy of Huffington Post)

Dog Reunites With Owner (couldn't resist)!

Man & Son Save a Fawn in Middle of Bay

Dave Falkenburg didn’t catch any fish in Michigan’s Wild Foul Bay on a recent excursion, but he’s happy with what he says he did grab from the water: A 65-pound fawn.

Falkenburg and his 13-year-old son, Justin, say video taken with the boy’s cell phone shows them rescuing the juvenile deer well away from shore on Sunday. They say they found it while driving their motorboat in the water about 45 miles northeast of Saginaw.

“My son thought it was a seagull or something,” Falkenburg told CNN of the moment they saw something bobbing in the water. “And I said no, I think it’s a deer.”

Falkenburg told CNN affiliate WNEM that it appeared the fawn was struggling to survive. The video, which the pair posted to YouTube, shows the boat approaching the water-treading fawn, and then Falkenburg grabbing the animal by the neck with the intention of keeping its head above water.

“We both decided that we needed to act, and needed to act fast,” Falkenburg, of Caseville, told CNN.

After Justin drove for a while with his dad holding the deer’s head, Dave Falkenburg eventually put the deer into the boat.

Thirty-five minutes after they found the animal, they were close enough to shore to put it into shallow water. Video shows the fawn walking toward land.

Falkenburg said deer regularly swim from a peninsula out to an island.

Mary Detloff, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources, said no DNR personnel were involved. She said she had no reason to doubt the story.

“I wouldn’t put it past the people of Michigan trying to save a deer,” she said.

Falkenburg said it didn’t matter to him that he didn’t catch any fish on the trip.

"We caught the best catch of the day," he said.