Famine and War in Somalia

I commend your editorial (“The Sorrows of Somalia,” Aug. 5). The U.N., as our agent for compassion in the war-torn regions of Europe and the Horn of Africa, cannot allow either/or thinking to stop lifesaving aid from entering Somalia through the Mogadishu airport.

Thanks also for the three-part series by Michael Dorris (Commentary, Aug. 3-5) on his experience in Zimbabwe.

Save the Children, the organization of which Dorris is a board member, was our host during a similar mission in Ethiopia. Seventeen of us from three continents, major investors in the ending of hunger through the Hunger Project, experienced the face of hunger firsthand. The fields are barren waiting for the rain.

Most important is the power and dignity of the African people. In living daily with death and hunger, they recognize that they are responsible for ultimately transcending these conditions.

Yugoslavia or Somalia? Africa or South-Central L.A.? These are not choices. They are all opportunities to express our humanity. And as we take action with checkbooks, brooms, words--we have the opportunity to create ourselves as a new way of being--global citizens.

DONALD SPUEHLER, Los Angeles