On The Ground In West Africa as Children Fight for Survival

Media Release: On The Ground In West Africa As Millions Of Children Fight For Survival

This week images have began to emerge on our television screens and in our newspapers of the food crisis to currently hit West Africa. Already 1.5 million children are severely malnourished, with more than 15 million at risk of extreme hunger.

Plan is currently working on the ground across the African region known as the Sahel to help children as a food crisis continues to spread. Plan’s Mary Matheson recently visited Niger, one of the worst-hit countries. Here is what she had to say...

As the tears tumble down teenage mother Hadija’s cheeks, I remember vividly how I felt as a first-time mother with a crying baby – inadequate, helpless, with an overwhelming feeling of responsibility.

But 18-month-old Ibrahim isn’t even crying, he’s bleating. No tears fall. He doesn’t have the energy. He is a bundle of skin and bones in his mother’s arms. His eyes barely open.

Severely malnourished, Ibrahim is now in the Intensive Therapeutic Feeding Centre in Tillaberi, Niger, and should recover. Hadija is humiliated, blaming herself for taking her baby to the brink of death by not feeding him adequately.

She’s unaware that there are hundreds of thousands of mothers like her in Niger – last year 300,000 children were treated for severe malnutrition here – a shocking15 per cent of all children treated for malnutrition worldwide.

Every year Niger has a “hungry season” beginning in June. An over-reliance on three months of rainfall to grow one crop – millet – has been compounded by years of drought and pest infestations

But this year all the signs are pointing towards a more brutal scenario as people are already finding it hard to feed themselves.

The clinic in Tillaberi is receiving 15 more severely malnourished children each month compared to the same period last year. And the Nigerien Government warns that soon more than a third of the population – six million people – will only have enough food to last six weeks.

Like many other agencies Plan is asking governments to act now, rather than wait for the all-familiar TV images of famine to spur them into action.

But one question is gnawing at me – if Niger has a food crisis every year, why haven’t the government and aid agencies been able to prepare people for it?

Hassane Mahamadou, Plan’s head of Tillaberi office, explains to me that last year’s drought was just “one too many failed harvests” for Nigeriens to bear – they have no reserves to fall back on.

“This year we’re coming out of several crises, so people have accumulated debts,” he says. “Since 2005 people have kept on borrowing in order to pay back their debts so people’s purchasing power has fallen.”

Unlike the food crisis in 2005, sacks of millet, rice and maize are piled high in the markets. But it’s all imported from Nigeria and Benin, and locals have no income to buy it with. As a last resort, villagers are selling their livestock.

“I had 10 goats but only have two left because I had to sell them to feed my family,” says local farmer Yacouba Ibrahim. Skinny sheep and bony goats are selling at 60-70 per cent of last year’s value. “You can’t compare this year with previous years because if we had a good harvest, we’d be buying animals, not selling them.”

In desperation, villagers are heading abroad in search of work. In Ibrahim’s village, 300 out of 1000 people have left with promises of sending money to those left behind.

Halima Younoussa’s husband joined the exodus to Nigeria but has yet to send money home. So she is left trying to feed her four children, all under five. She pounds millet for other families; when she sieves the powder, she is left with the residue as her payment. Normally reserved for animals, Halima and her four children are living off this twice a day.

But they don’t care – the children are so hungry that as soon as she takes the bowl away from the fire, they stretch out their cupped hands as if begging for the food.

“I’m scared we won’t be able to find other food and we’ll just eat millet residue and one of my children will die,” she said.

Compounding this desperate situation is the influx of an estimated 20,000 Malian refugees to this dry, arid region of Niger. In a village near the Malian border, the 800 inhabitants were already having food problems.

In the last three months the population has more than quadrupled with refugees fleeing conflict in their homeland. Many are living under a blanket or sheet, hooked up to four sticks driven into the ground.

Azahara Naziou fled her home last week, with just her three children and a sheet. During the day they shelter from the relentless 35-degree heat in the shade provided by the sheet. At night they sleep on the sandy, rocky ground with the sheet doubling as a mosquito net.

She goes from family to family begging for food for her children, and despite their own their scant resources, the villagers don’t think twice about sharing what little they have.

Mr Mahamadou explains the work Plan is doing to help people in the short-term – food banks with subsidised grains, school feeding programmes and targeted food distribution for vulnerable families.

We ask if he has any reason for optimism. Smiling broadly, he explains that Plan’s longer-term work is beginning to bear fruit.

Plan has established small gardens, encouraging villagers to diversify their crops and use irrigation for watering rather than rely on rainfall. The results have been encouraging. Not only are they providing enough to eat, but a surplus to sell on the market.

In one school garden, students planted potatoes in November last year. By January they harvested 600kg of potatoes, enough to feed the entire school twice and send each of the 200 pupils home with 1.5kg each. They sold the rest at the market and earned about $280.

“When the rest of the village saw what the children had done, they were really motivated – if children can do this much, can you imagine what adults could do?” said the beaming headmaster Diallo Soumana.

Plan is appealing for $5 million to fund our urgent work with children and their communities affected by the West Africa Food Crisis. Donate online to the Children in Crisis Fund, or call 13 75 26.

* Please note some names have been changed.

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Millions Of Children At Risk In West Africa Food Crisis

Urgent help is needed for millions of children and their families at risk of acute malnutrition and severe hunger as a food crisis spreads across West Africa, says children’s development NGO Plan International Australia.

Up to 1.5 million children across the African region known as the Sahel are already severely malnourished, and more than 15 million people are at risk of extreme hunger.

The Sahel is a band of countries south of the Sahara desert that includes Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.

Plan International Australia chief executive Ian Wishart said urgent action could help prevent a full-blown crisis and ensure children across the region can look forward to a positive future.

“Last year the world watched as a food crisis spread across East Africa – and it’s clear that the world did too much watching and acted far too late,” he said.

“If we act now, we can avert a major crisis in West Africa and ensure that millions of children not only survive, but can build a future in which they help lift their families out of poverty.

“Australia led the way in the East Africa food crisis and was one of the biggest donors with $128 million, but so far has only committed $10 million to West Africa. It’s time for the Australian Government to again take the lead and commit a massive increase in funds to protect children across West Africa.”

Mr Wishart said that families across the region were reaching the end of their food supplies months earlier than usual, a situation caused by a combination of drought, pests such as locusts, families still recovering from the 2010 drought and rising food prices – all compounded by refugees fleeing conflict in Mali.

In Niger alone, 300,000 children were treated for severe malnutrition last year – an astonishing 15 per cent of all children treated for malnutrition worldwide – and without urgent action this number is expected to increase dramatically .

“Children are the most at risk in any emergency,” said Mr Wishart. “They are often the last to receive food, but they are also often forced to leave school to help their families find food or because they are too weak from hunger to study.

“We are already receiving reports of dramatic increases in school drop-out rates, and the Niger Government says half a million children are at risk of dropping out of school.

“Education is crucial for these children to build a better life in the future. Plan is running school feeding programs to ensure children can stay at school. Donations from Australians will help us to ensure thousands more children maintain their education during this crisis.”

Plan is responding in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Our actions include:

-- Targeted food distributions and distribution of water.

-- Irrigation and gardening projects.

-- School feeding to keep children in school.

-- Malnutrition screening and management for children.

-- Providing emergency assistance in Niger and Burkina Faso for refugees fleeing conflict in nearby Mali.

Plan is appealing for $5 million to fund our urgent work with children and their communities affected by the West Africa Food Crisis. Donate online to the Children in Crisis Fund, or call 13 75 26.

ENDS

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