On the fifth floor of an old office building high above and far away from the refugee crisis in east Africa, advocates are building a paper chain linking dollars to famine relief in Somalia.
"The chains do feed people," said Daniel Wordsworth, of the American Refugee Committee.
ARC has received a $50,000 pledge from Hormuud Telecommunications, the largest telephone utility in Mogadishu. The pledge is contingent upon ARC getting 50,000 social media impressions for its "I Am a Star for Somalia" Facebook page.
The "I Am a Star for Somalia" campaign was launched a year ago in response to the famine that the United Nations says killed 30,000 children.
ARC's Somalia coordinator Said Sheik-Abdi just returned from spending more than a month in the ARC-sponsored refugee camps. Sheik-Abdi said the famine in the region has mostly ended, but refugees continue to stream into Mogadishu by the thousands because they know it's the only place where they can get assistance.
"It's a really bad situation," said Sheik-Abdi. "There are families who are sleeping without food, and there are children who are sick and cannot get the proper treatment anywhere in Mogadishu."
ARC has distributed more than 200 metric tons of food so far this year in Mogadishu. Wordsworth says the pledge of $50,000 will help feed many more.
"Every time a person goes onto ‘I Am a Star for Somalia' Facebook page and they Like Somalia or send a note of solidarity or they cheer on the team that's working in Somalia, every ‘Like' like that, every link is one chain. And each chain unlocks one dollar going into to Somalia," said Wordsworth.
ARC has already gathered more than 35,000 social media engagements and needs collect 15,000 more by Saturday night, August 11th, to take advantage of the full pledge.
"To us, I think they represent the links between people around the world who are showing solidarity for Somalia," said Wordsworth. "And I think it's also a physical way that people can demonstrate their commitment but also a way for the people in Somalia to see people in Malaysia, Yemen, London, and Sweden coming together unified in helping Somalia get through this."