A guest post from mom blogger Eden Riley, in Niger this week to see the work of World Vision for herself.

Severe cold, snowfall and blizzards in Romania continue to cause widespread suffering and fatalities due to hypothermia with the latest seven victims dying outside their homes in the counties of Suceava, Bacau, Brasov, Gorj, Mehedinti and Mures, according to local news reports. An estimated 33,000 people need immediate assistance.

Two years ago this week, too many lives were crushed by the very land that formed so much of their identity. To honour these people, Haiti doesn’t need to be “rebuilt” now to what it was. It needs to become the place it deserves to be - that it wasn’t, before the quake. A place where children all go to school, where healthcare isn’t a privilege, and where safe shelter for families is not the stuff of dreams.

Over a week has passed, and I feel I’ve had the busiest hours with World Vision after Typhoon Washi struck in Northern Mindanao - my home. I knew there was a typhoon coming, and I was even monitoring our areas. But like the weather experts and forecasters, I was stunned upon beholding the aftermath of Washi’s force and fury.

Aiza, age 10, survived Tropical Storm Washi with her one-year old sibling Trixy as the floodwater was taking away many houses and homes in their village. “I held her tight. It was so cold. I heard a lot of children screaming and seeking for help. I asked God to keep us safe,” she says.

At the Maralal district hospital’s stabilization centre, Ana Leswakeri cannot wait to go home. She has been confined within the four walls of the centre for two weeks with her six-month-old child Michele, admitted with severe malnutrition plus vomiting and diarrhoea.

In Cambodia and Thailand, where floodwaters have closed schools and driven families from their homes, children find safety, solace, and fun in World Vision’s Child-Friendly Spaces.

Sonia Ayala remembers the trees falling down, animals drowning and mothers crying with anguish as she escaped the rising waters. “We decided to find shelter in a warehouse with metal sheets but it was impossible; it wasn’t strong enough to protect us and we had to go out to save ourselves,” she says. After Sonia was safe herself, she began to think about other children in need in her community. She joined the relief effort and helped save lives.

When World Vision went to the village of Gud (pronounced “good”) it was clear that there was nothing good that typhoons Nesat and Nalgae had contributed to the area. Houses were blown down, rice paddies were in shambles, food was scarce, and children were not able to go to school for five days. Gud is one of the villages where World Vision gave something good for the affected families.

Close to half a million children under the age of five, pregnant and lactating mothers are currently affected by acute malnutrition nationwide. “The trend has been that the malnutrition rates have been on the rise especially in the drought worst hit districts of Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu, Isiolo, Wajir and Mandera,” explains World Vision Nutrition Program Officer, Daniel Muhinja.

World Vision has been assisting displaced people like Hadija Hassan Abdi in Puntland, Somalia since the escalation of the drought in March this year. The mother of seven children told her story from a just-completed shelter made of twigs and a few scraps of old clothes she brought with her.

There is never a quick fix to crises such as what happened in Ethiopia – and what is now taking place in East Africa. Reducing vulnerability to natural hazards can take a long time. The people of Antsokia will tell you, though, that a commitment to stay and support local efforts can make the task of building resilience a reality.

World Vision takes a two-pronged approach to ensuring children in Kenya survive the drought. They receive Plumpy’Nut through the weekly Outpatient Therapy Programme. The Plumpy’Nut tastes delicious and seems like food, but it is so much more. “This is medicine for the children,” says Josephine Changawa.

Batei, a small village in western Kenya, is accustomed to drought. But this year has been devastating. “In the past the rains were more and you could get something from the land. But now I cannot plow and get anything from the land,” says Mama Selina. Her seven children are ill, most of her livestock have died, her home is in disrepair, and she walks hours to fetch river water.

Famines don’t happen much anymore. There were a handful in the late 20th century, most notably in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Sudan, but it’s been quite a long time since we’ve seen a real famine. So it is with great significance that the United Nations is now using the word “famine” to describe the situation in parts of East Africa.

Since food prices went through the roof, going to the shops has become a dreaded experience for Roselyn, who struggles to survive on less than a dollar a day. “Both my husband and I do not have regular jobs; providing food for the family has been a struggle,” she said. Families throughout drought-stricken Turkana are in dire need of food. Relief food from the government is not promising; when it comes, it is very little.

Some were compelled by their citizenship duty, others the simple fear of living in a disaster-prone country–but everyone who participated in World Vision’s community consultation around Lebanon’s preparedness to emergencies affirmed one thing – "Lebanon is not prepared and we need to take action". (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

"I thought our house was hit by a truck," said Thin Sar Ram, who lived on ground floor of three-storey building built at the busy intersection of the Tarchileik-Kyaing Tong highway. "There was a big bang then everything went black and noisy."

It’s more than two weeks since the massive earthquake and tsunami tore through Japan’s northeast coastline, yet tremors and ripples continue to wreak havoc and remind hundreds of thousands of survivors of their fears and losses.

I was at Minami Sanriku, a town severely hit by the tsunami next to Tome. Everything was washed away and I cannot even begin to describe my feelings. Here, I met with a 60-year-old man who related his story of loss to me.

More than 30,000 villagers living near the borders of Thailand and Cambodia were affected when the fighting erupted around the Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province. The exchange of fire started on the first week of February and lasted for four days. (On World Vision's Asia / Pacific website)

The enormous plate of rice and beans looks as though it would satisfy the hearty appetite of a construction worker, but it takes hardly any time at all for Magdala Dauphin, a slender girl of 13, to consume more than half of it.

Almost one year after one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history, Port-au-Prince—and in particular the outlying neighbourhood of Petionville, where I’m based—is certainly looking a lot better.

The camp for homeless people at Marie Therese may have been abandoned, but a large tent remains—a Child-Friendly Space—where World Vision continues fun and educational activities for children. More recently, the tent has been used as a centre to train about 40 formerly homeless women to make handcrafted bracelets for the U.S. market.