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August 12, 2005

Hamidou and Mamadou

Sorry for the infrequent postings. I have had malaria the last few days, but am getting over that now. Thanks to those of you who have emailed and asked about the famine here. Let me try and sum up.

The food security situation is very serious at the moment, not in the whole of Burkina Faso, but in particular areas. The worst affected areas are, as always, all in the north of the country, and the hunger gets more acute the further north you go.

I have been asking some of the older people in Djibo how this year compares to the 'great' famines of 1972 and 1973, and it seems that the main difference is this: in 1972 there was money but no food, in 2005 there is food but no money. The results are similar though. The people in Djibo have sold all their assets (including animals, if they had any) to buy millet in the market. Now they have nothing, and there are still two months to go until the harvest.

It is very difficult to measure hunger. If you come to Djibo and say 'Hands up if you're hungry', the whole town (including the mayor) will put their hands up. And it is true that everyone (except the mayor) is looking thin these days. When I returned last week from ten days in Ouagadougou, I did a double-take at how emaciated some of my friends had become.

Targetting aid is tricky - everyone thinks that they and their family should be entitled to it and that so-and-so down the street should not. There is no consensus about who the 'poorest of the poor' are. But sometimes it is crystal clear...

Carl and Sharlene Pilkinton are SIM missionaries in Djibo. They are in their first term here, learning Fulfulde and ministering in a variety of different ways. Shar writes:

Hamidou and Mamadou are 6 week-old twins, barely 2 kgs each. Their mother walked 45 kilometres to Djibo from Kabaoua to see if her twins could go on our milk-powder supplement programme. Her babies need breast milk but she does not have enough milk to feed them. Because of the food shortage she herself is eating only one meal a day - one bowl of plain rice with salt. Up until now she has been able to get cow-milk from her neighbours but now they are refusing her. She has no animals of her own to milk or to sell.
	At first sight of the twins I was so horrified that I thought they should go straight to the local hospital. However, this is not possible. Their mother needs to care for her other children back at home and can not leave Hamidou and Mamadou in Djibo. If only she herself could eat better/more then she be able to give these babies all the breast-milk they need.
(Thanks, Shar, for this case-study)

I (Steve) am finding things here quite hard at the moment. In particular I feel guilty that I can eat till I am full and my next-door neighbours can not.

If you would like to know more about SIM's milk-powder supplement project in Djibo, contact me, and I will pass on your message to the right person.

If you would like to give to the relief effort in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania, contact DEC.

Posted by sahelsteve at August 12, 2005 08:12 AM