On August 19, 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad killed 22 aid workers, including the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring August 19 as World Humanitarian Day.

Each year, this day focuses on a different burning issue. This year, it calls for an urgent effort to halt climate change, which is in everyone’s best interest. The disasters caused by the phenomena associated with global warming last year alone forced 30.7 million people to leave their homes, condemning them to exile, water shortages and hunger.

The floods in Germany and the gigantic fires in southern Europe, which persist to this day, dispel the illusion that climate change is an imaginary threat. The people of Burkina Faso have known this for years. In the area surrounding the village of Gourcy, where we are developing our agricultural project, there was still a savannah with typical African flora and fauna in the middle of the last century. There were lions, giraffes, elephants, ostriches and hippos. The inhabitants worked on extensive cotton plantations, of which there is no trace today. Animals have long since disappeared. Every plant sown here has to be painstakingly nurtured for it to reach maturity. The lack of water has left people with nothing to eat, no way to work, and they are increasingly thinking of emigrating.

When we started creating working conditions for farmers in Burkina Faso a few years ago, we knew that the people of Gourcy were in dire need of support, but we didn’t think that the situation there would deteriorate so drastically. Water is getting scarcer every year and temperatures are raging. Without investing in new irrigation solutions, the weather will eventually defeat us. To ensure that people don’t lose their jobs and are able to feed themselves, we need to drill another borehole and continuously invest in irrigation systems. Without you, this will not be possible.

The problem with World Humanitarian Day is that it only occurs once a year, yet the problems it addresses affect people in the world’s poorest countries every day. We know how to fix this! Today you can set up a standing order for 5 PLN a week and join the production of good on a large scale. Join us in reaching those in need not just once a year. Thanks to the High Five project you can be present where your help is needed most, 365 days a year.

In the race against the climate crisis, we can’t leave anyone behind. Join the ranks of people who have the influence to bring more good to this world. Do it today!!!