TPRF Aid Brings Water to Communities in Ethiopia

Need for immediate assistance cited as critical

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) is contributing US$25,000 to help provide clean water and related relief to communities in Ethiopia that are under siege by the worst drought conditions in more than 60 years. The grant will support aid for 24,000 people living near the Ethiopian border with Somalia.

Grant recipient International Relief & Development (IRD) will use the funds to implement an emergency water and sanitation plan in the Afdher and Liban zones, which have been most severely affected. The widespread drought has had a devastating effect on crops and livestock and therefore the food supply.

Daniel Puls, IRD chief of advancement, says, "The most immediate and primary need at this time is clean, potable drinking water." From the scene, Dr. Adam Koons, IRD director of relief & humanitarian aid, reports, "Our staff will procure water trucks and provide water purification supplies."

"In addition to fulfilling one of TPRF's greatest concerns—to provide clean drinking water," said TPRF President Linda Pascotto, "IRD pledges to work at the ground level with local partners to promote planning, education and training to build self-sustaining communities, which is another important TPRF objective."

Specific plans, Puls says, are being revised daily according to the need. The influx of drought-affected refugees from Somalia is a strain on local resources, but Puls reports that IRD's immediate activities here are proceeding calmly. "This is a primary reason so many children and families are making the long walk across the border to that area," he says. Herder families that have lost livestock to drought and starvation are most affected.

IRD's staff have served as first-responders in all major humanitarian catastrophes that have occurred worldwide over the past 12 years. They are using TPRF funds as part of their six-month or longer emergency relief program in Ethiopia.

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat's message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

SOURCE The Prem Rawat Foundation

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