Food Security Crisis in Niger, West Africa

Miriam Booy (WV Canada Country Program Manager: West Africa) visit to Ouallam ADP, Niger, November 25, 2011.

Last week I had the opportunity to view firsthand the emerging food security crisis in Niger; what many are saying will be the worst one to occur since 1995. Niger has suffered from cyclical food crises every five years for the last two decades. This time it has only been two years since the previous crisis in 2010.

Driving out of Niamey towards World Vision’s Ouallam Area Development Project (ADP), the poor harvest is immediately evident from the passing barren fields with millet only a few inches high. The ADP’s Manager, Ango Mayaki, says “People should be in their fields harvesting at this time, but look…they are all empty.” He goes on to explain that farmers have suffered one setback after another the last few months: “First the rains came very late. Then many of the seeds that did germinate were eaten by small rodents and the millet which managed to survive this was then attacked by a plague of locusts.”  As a result, it’s estimated that 277 out of 300 villages in the Ouallam region will face food shortages in the coming year.

The first thing I notice as we arrive in a village called Tchalla is the lack of men. We are told they have all left to find work in Niamey or neighboring countries to send money home to feed their families.  Most of them began to leave at the end of September following the locust epidemic.

We are introduced to Haissa Issaka. She is the mother of six children but has another three children under her care.  She explains that her husband has been away for the past year working in Nigeria to send money home. He recently sent them enough to buy two sacks of millet which should normally last them 12 days, but she will try to make it last for the month. Her biggest concern is finding food for her family and she hopes they will not have to leave their home.  “There is no comparison to last year,” Haissa says.  This is the worst that we have seen for a long time and we will be forced to leave if help does not come.” She does see as a small glimmer of hope as four of the nine children under her care are sponsored by Canadians through World Vision. She also explains that she is part of a group of women that have received vegetable seeds that they are growing near the well that WV provided. Haissa is hopeful that this will provide some income in the coming months.

As I struggle to find words to respond, my colleague Jadi whispers that I can say ‘kalasuru’ meaning ‘take courage’ in the local language. As I say this to Haissa, her eyes light up and she nods and agrees that this is the only thing that she can do.

Driving back to Niamey we pass several donkey carts laden with hay bales. The dry grass is the only marketable commodity coming out of this year’s harvest. Ango tells me that it has taken the men and their carts three days to get to the capital from Ouallam to try to sell their hay. I turn to look on the other side of the road and see empty carts going the opposite direction, starting their long journey home. It’s a small sign of hope that they have been able to earn a few dollars.

World Vision Niger, supported by WV Canada and other partners, is already responding to this crisis by providing cash for work, food for work and cash transfer programs to prevent people from selling off their assets and to help them remain in their villages. WV Niger works closely with the Ministry of Health to supply 36 health centers in five regions with a supplementary feeding program and to offer support to sensitize mothers and health workers on the treatment and prevention methods for malnutrition. All signs indicate that much more will be needed to help mothers like Haissa and her children in the coming months to meet their basic needs, and to be able to remain in their homes.

World Toilet Day November 19, 2011

Having access to a clean and safe bathroom is something virtually all Canadians take for granted. But for millions of people around the world, particularly those dealing with natural disasters, simply finding a working toilet is almost impossible.
During the recent flooding in Thailand, millions of people throughout the country were left with no access to clean and safe water, not only for drinking and keeping clean, but also for their basic sanitary needs. To help deal with the situation, World Vision Thailand partnered with a local firm to distribute a unique product – a disposable toilet.
Developed by a company called SCG, the disposable toilet, also known as a ‘poo box’ is a compact, lightweight, easily moulded corrugated box, designed to be used in times when regular toilets have become unusable or in situations where toilets are unavailable. A removable plastic bag that is positioned inside the box allows for onetime use, and is disposed of each time a person uses the toilet.
Each toilet set includes simple instructions on how to construct the collapsed (flat) box. The kit also contains a set of plastic bags, and a bag of chemical lime. Users are advised to add a handful of lime inside the plastic bag before usage, as it accelerates the decomposition of the contents. Each bag is sealed tightly and stored in a safe place outside the house until garbage disposal trucks can collect it.
World Vision distributed 200 disposable toilets to a struggling community in Uthai Thani province, in central Thailand, in mid-November. Local residents were extremely pleased to receive the kits and expressed their gratitude to World Vision for the donation.

Photo – Caption: World Vision Thailand National Director Chitra Thumborisuth presents a disposable toilet kit to district leaders in Uthai Thani province in Central Thailand. More than 200 kits were distributed to families during the country’s recent heavy flooding.
Click here to see a link on how to construct a disposable toilet (in Thai) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-Gqqvgglsj4

Photo Journal: Somalia

Jon Warren, the award-winning Photo Director for World Vision, is currently traveling around East Africa to tell stories of World Vision’s work and to document the current emergency hunger situation. Along the way he’ll be sending the ACT:S network pictures as he sees it from his camera and iPhone as often as he can! So make sure to follow us on Twitter and check back to see more of East Africa from his percpective. 

Location: Somalia (Editor’s Note: Here is what Jon wrote to us in an e-mail) It would be easy to write about the flight from Nairobi to Somalia — the hulk of 17,057′ Mt Kenya looming beside the airplane, the transition from cool rain to blasting desert heat, the pleasure of meeting World Vision’s dedicated Somali and Kenyan staff, and the seriousness of a security briefing that I listened very closely to. But a quick visit to nearby camps for drought and conflict refugees reminded why it’s so important that I do this blog post. Those numbers we keep hearing about — took on faces.

First stop in Somalia. The UN flight stopped to refuel at Galkayu airstrip. We waited under thorn trees while it was refueled after the 3 1/3 hour flight from Nairobi. An NGO worker was kidnapped here  4 months ago. Staff work here at great risk. Taken with my iPhone.

Gaalo Adan Ali, 45, still struggles with nightmares. On the long 15 day journey here, begging rides on any vehicles heading north, 2 of her children died of hunger– 2 and 4 years old,. Another almost died in a car crash. Now she is cradling her 6 year-old son, Khaleed, praying he won’t die too. He is vomiting and so weak he can’t sit up on his own. The decision to leave and look for food elsewhere came slowly. But when her mother died and 2 of her sister’s children, she and her husband knew it was time to leave. But he was bitten by a snake and unable to travel, so Gaalo had to take the children on her own.

Seven year-old Jimale Salat can no longer go to school like he used to in Mogadishu. There isn’t room here. Now each day in camp, all he can do is fetch water and try to help his increasingly blind and deaf grandmother, Mumino. Jimale’s story is especially tragic. On top of hunger and boredom, he has to try to grow up without either parent. Both were caught in the crossfire of a shootout and killed.

According to city officials, about 15 desperate families a day filter into the collection of 6 camps that make up Muuse Rootile IDP Camp. The huts are a patchwork quilt of pieces of cloth, cardboard and tin — anything for privacy and shelter from the constant wind.

Wema Adere is World Vision’s Acting Regional Manager. Prior to her 3 years in Somalia, she worked in Southern Sudan. She is one tough, brave woman! A recent highlight for her came after a 6 hour drive far off the beaten track, assessing the places World Vision could have the biggest impact here. She was delighted when a villager ran up in excitement and said, “I used to know you guys. I used to load your trucks in Wajid and my children used to be in your programs! And now I know things will get better here! I know things are going to happen!” One of the areas Wema first worked in Somalia is the exact town, Quansadhere, where Gaalo and her family came from. World Vision was forced to leave several years ago by Al Shabaab, but hopes to return sometime soon when security improves. Taken with my iPhone.

©2011 Jon Warren/World Vision

Originally posted at: http://www.worldvisionacts.org/photo_journey_somalia

Dollo, Somalia – Among the Direst of Situations

By Mike Weickert

While traveling through Somalia, Mike Weickert, director of humanitarian and emergency affairs, shares how World Vision is helping victims of the drought.

Yesterday we made a one-day visit to Dollo, a Somali town on the border with Ethiopia. People have fled to Dollo from other parts of Somalia, hoping to find relief from the drought and conflict plaguing their communities. Dollo is relatively secure, people can stay there safely and aid agencies can provide assistance.

Along the Way There Were Deaths
We visited Dollo to assess the needs of both the displaced people and community in which they’re staying, to determine how we can best add value to their lives. Among others, we spoke with the few, locally based aid agencies already working there, plus government officials and members of the community.

For those of you who have been following my blogs, you know that I was part of a team that visited Puntland, in the northeast of Somalia. While the situation for the displaced people in Puntland was very difficult, it is significantly worse in Dollo. In fact, it was among the direst of humanitarian situations I have witnessed in 15 years of doing this work.

The journey to Dollo was clearly difficult for many. We spoke with an older man who traveled there with his wife and 4 children. It took him 13 days with little food and water. Along the way there were deaths. In Dollo, he is now living in a structure constructed by attaching loose sticks to a small tree, with pieces of cloth spread over the frame to provide some shelter. It provides a little protection from the unrelenting sun and wind, but is far from adequate.

Some of the newest arrivals reported sleeping in the open under trees. People reported not having much in the way of food and water, a vast majority of the displaced appeared to be children, and many of the young were receiving treatment for malnutrition from a local NGO that seemed overwhelmed by the demand. We don’t know exactly how many displaced people are staying around Dollo, but it’s clearly a large number, with many unmet needs, despite the best efforts of the Somali NGOs working in the area.

The Humanitarian Imperative
One of the clear messages we heard from the people in Dollo was that they didn’t want World Vision to be another in the line of agencies that have come, talked to some people, taken a few pictures and then left, never to return. We explained to the community that World Vision will not do that. The needs are so profound and likely to grow and we have already secured resources and made some initial plans to start our operations in days.

Working in Dollo will not be easy: access by road is uncertain and there are no regular flights, insecurity is always a threat and we need to find good staff quickly, to scale up our operations without weakening our work in other parts of the country. Ultimately it may be a very costly place to operate. However, we believe in the principle known as the humanitarian imperative: people who need disaster assistance must be given it.

Right now people in Dollo need it the most.

Famine in the Horn of Africa – baby Tipen, the missing face behind a region still without food

World Vision removes the photo of a recently deceased Kenyan baby from its advertising.

Amélie Daoust-Boisvert 9th August 2011 International News

Photo : Lucy Murunga / World Vision
Baby Tipen in his grandmother’s arms, in Kenya.  The drought and famine have caused the loss of the boy seen in World Vision’s advertising campaign.

Last week, World Vision asked the media to replace an advertisement appealing for donations for the Horn of Africa, following the death of the baby seen in the photo. Tipen was the face behind the tragedy that is shaking this region to its limits with the worst famine in more than 60 years.

Fourteen-month-old Tipen lived in a village in the region of Turkana, Kenya. The World Vision team began helping him in May. Visibly emaciated, he is immortalized in the photograph with his grandmother, which was used as a background for the organization’s appeal for funds. At that time, he weighed a mere 5 kilos. “I used to earn 1 dollar by selling wood, which was enough for me to buy food for my family,” the 70 year-old widow told the humanitarian action team. “But I can’t even buy corn flour any more.” The cost of food has soared because of the drought.

The organization immediately took care of the toddler and provided emergency food aid. “When we visited him next time, he was getting better,” explains Nicolette Beharie, a World Vision editor who provides a link between the organization in Toronto and the teams in the field. Aid workers were therefore dismayed in July when they learned of Tipen’s death.

The drought has escalated and brought famine with it. Tipen’s mother passed away, leaving Tipen without his mother’s precious milk.  “This caused his state of health to decline. His grandmother shared her (food) rations with her other grandchildren. There’s nothing at all unusual about that. We can easily put ourselves in this woman’s shoes,” said Beharie. When the boy started suffering from sickness and diarrhoea, his grandmother didn’t want to chance the 65km journey to the nearest hospital. In the end, realizing Tipen’s health had worsened, she set off – but it was just too much. The baby died before getting to the health centre. As a mark of respect, World Vision has chosen to remove his photo from their advertising campaign.

Ten million people suffer from the consequences of drought in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. Today, it is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis according to the UN.

Difficulty to deliver aid

Beharie’s voice is laden with emotion as she tells of these events. “When I heard that Tipen had passed away, I felt as though I’d heard about the death of a close relative. Everything became very real all of a sudden. A little too real. I received the message early one morning and I thought to myself, “today is going to be a difficult day.”

The extreme drought, together with a difficult political situation, makes this disaster particularly severe. “I have been working here for six years. Hunger and poverty are nothing new for me”, explains Beharie. But I find this incident particularly hard. I work all day with this crisis and going to the grocery store makes me feel uneasy.”

Her colleague, Mike Weickert, believes that the international community underestimated the extent of this drought and has taken too long to react. “We knew that drought was on its way, but the international community should have had a better idea of how serious this disaster actually would be, bearing in mind the number of people isolated in inaccessible zones,” believes World Vision’s director of humanitarian affairs. Although NGOs have been granted the right to cross Somali borders again, certain zones remain closed. “Money didn’t get there quickly enough. We are late and trying to make up for lost time,” he adds, after returning from the Somali refugee camps last Saturday. “Logistically-speaking, it is not an easy region. It takes a large amount of time and money to distribute aid.”

***This article originally appeared in French in Le Devoir

13 million affected by drought in Horn of Africa

More than 13 million people are without adequate food or shelter in the Horn of Africa. You can help them. Donate now at http://www.worldvision.ca. Share this video with your friends and family today.

A Long Journey for Help

By Mike Weickert

World Vision Canada’s Mike Weickert is currently in north Somalia. Weickert, director of humanitarian and emergency affairs, is seeing first hand how the organization is helping victims of the drought.

I recently returned from northeast Somalia, a region known as Puntland. World Vision started operations in Puntland at the end of 2010 after we were forced out of south central Somalia, the region that has been designated as a famine zone.

Puntland is experiencing severe drought, much like the rest of Somalia, but the civil war is not directly affecting the region and there is a functioning government. Because of this relative stability, many people from the worst affected south and central regions of Somalia are traveling up to Puntland and settling in and around the few towns. Although conditions are difficult, aid agencies like World Vision are able to access these people and provide assistance to them.

A Mother’s 30-day Journey
One community where World Vision is reaching people is Goldagob, a six-hour drive from the main airstrip. In this community we met several people who shared the difficult situations they have been dealing with:

One woman said that the drought and conflict in Wajid had forced her to embark on a 30-day journey to Goldagob with most of her children. Unfortunately two children were too ill to travel and had to remain with their father in Wajid. Now she lives in a shelter made of a stick frame covered with scraps of material –cloth, cardboard, sheet metal. She told us that there wasn’t enough food for her and her children and she was getting much of what she needed from neighbours who shared with her.

Another woman we spoke with faced a really difficult trip, actually gave birth to her baby along the way. Thankfully there was a midwife traveling with her and the baby was born safely. The woman is able to breastfeed her daughter, giving her child the best chance for survival and good health, but she told us that she too had very little food and water. If she is not properly nourished her baby will eventually also end up malnourished.

Then we met a third woman whose child was malnourished and receiving treatment through World Vision’s emergency nutrition project. This woman was from a nearby district, and her family had lost most of their livestock (and livelihood) in the drought. To treat the malnutrition, World Vision’s is providing her daughter with Plumpy’nut© (a peanut-based nutritional treatment). This low-cost, home-based treatment quickly helps children improve. While we were talking to the mother, her child lay in her arms, with seemingly no energy. However when she gave the Plumpy’nut to her daughter, the child ate it gladly. A great moment to witness.

Making the Journey Worthwhile
Working in Puntland and other parts of Somalia is challenging. The distances we travel to reach people are often long, the roads are bumpy and there is always the threat of violence or other insecurity. But we are able to make a difference in people’s lives. We are helping malnourished children become healthy again and we are improving communities’ access to water.

But, it is still not enough. There are many other needs still not being met, mainly because we don’t have all the resources we need. I am hopeful that we can now change that because of the increased attention this crisis is getting. If you are able, please consider helping this response in any way you can. This will make worthwhile those long journeys of the people we met.