How fast could you do your job if it meant saving a life?  That’s what some of my UPS colleagues got to ponder this past weekend as they raced the clock to transport an aerial shipment of critical UNICEF relief supplies to combat famine in the Sahel region of Africa.

A UPS cargo jet left our air hub in Cologne, Germany, and flew 49 metric tons (MT) of lifesaving supplies to Nouakchott, Mauritania, a city within the affected region.  The delivery included items from around Europe:

• 25 MT of hygiene kits from Spain
• 13 MT of miscellaneous items, including tents from Denmark
• 9 MT of UNICEF Plumpy (edible peanut-based paste containing calories and vitamins formulated to renourish starving children) from France
• 2 MT of water containers from Norway

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in the countries of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal, “Hunger is affecting about 15 million people and threatening to put more than one million children into a state of severe malnourishment.”

To learn more about the situation in the Sahel Region, connect with others about this issue, or make an individual donation, please go to www.unicefusa.org/sahelups.