Harry Belafonte and Marlon Jackson

The joint UN and Ethiopian relief and Rehabilitation Commission airlift of grain to the drought-stricken northern Highlands of Ethiopia involves both Soviet and American planes and crews. At Axum, helpers offload sacks of grain from an Aeroflot helicopter. Although it’s a rare and sacred thing, a singular event can change a continent … and a man. When millions die as a nation uses food as a weapon of war, the worst instincts of humankind fly in the face of logic and decency. Yet that is what happened in Ethiopia in 1984.
Kenya’s renowned photojournalist Mohamed ‘MO’ Amin was there with his cameras to document the suffering. His images changed the world as the people of Africa and the world responded with one of the greatest acts of philanthropy in human history. The famine was a tipping point for him personally and he changed for the better – he became a better man and a better father. Africa changed for the better as Africans united in their humanity and the quest to overcome the suffering that had long defined nations rooted in the malaise of colonialism and conflict.