Katarina Loksa
The world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis in history of the UN in Somalia: Some 100,000 face famine and the UN has warned that 5.5m people, or 40 per cent of the population, are at risk (Source: Financial Times, 15/03/2017). And while the world is watching in dismay, one person’s action has kicked off an amazing campaign to help this desperate region, reaching out to celebrities, companies and the common folks through a smart Social media campaign.
A great idea that sparked action
Vine and Snapchat star Jerome Jarre started the social media campaign in an effort to help spread the word about the dire humanitarian conditions in Somalia. So he set out to find a plane to fill it with food – realizing that only Turkish Airlines were flying to Mogadishu.
Show leadership and people will follow
A social media campaign with the hashtag #TurkishAirlinesHelpSomalia was kicked off, supported by celebrities like Ben Stiller, to make the airline respond, and responding it did: Turkish Airlines has pledged to send a plane of supplies to Somalia on March 27. The initial goal of $1 million US was reached within less than 24 hours and the fundraising is still underway on GoFundMe. Turkish Airlines committed to making available a full cargo flight that can fly 60 tons of food to Somalia, and they agreed to let the organisers ship food containers on their commercial aircraft to Somalia, until the end of the famine.
#TurkishAirlinesHelpSomalia: when social media can propell an idea into reality and do good. What if the internet could help change so many more things for the better?
