Giving Children Hope in West AfricaKayla Robertson - 31 Jul 2012
It’s been only two years since the last food crisis struck West Africa and this year has brought yet another failed harvest for families. Children in the region are becoming so permanently stunted that their tiny bodies are unable to grow. That these children are at risk of dying from something that is entirely preventable is particularly difficult to swallow.
Running for delayed trains, squeezing in meetings and lessons while making time for friends, it is easy to get caught up in my own little world. Meanwhile the news is filled with stories of conflict, disaster and pain. Stories where families, communities and countries are torn apart. However there is one story that we perhaps have not heard enough about. It is a tragedy that sadly encompasses all of these things, and one that I bring into my own little world as I encourage you to do the same.
The story is of West Africa, currently in the grip of another food crisis. Incredible numbers of people particularly young people are at risk of food shortage and lack of water. One of these children is Soumaila. We met him and his mother Fatimata in May when blogger Sian visited their home in Niger.
Their straw mat shelter had recently been blown in half, and as the sun beat down on them and the pervasive winds soared, Fatimata told Sian their story.
Fatima and her husband’s crops had failed. Forced to move 400 kilometres away to a dusty mining town to look for work, they were now living in its hot and harsh environment with their young children. It looks like a place that has been swept up by a tornado and placed on the moon.
She told how she can only afford to feed her family one small meal a day and how she gave birth to her son all alone on the sandy floor of her straw home. She also spoke of how Soumaila was suffering from malnutrition and she couldn’t afford to help him.
Unfortunately, Fatimata is not alone. Her story is one that is echoed across eight countries in West Africa. There are 18 million people there affected right now - today - by the food crisis. Four million of these are children under the age of five.
World Vision UK has been following the stories of the families at the heart of the crisis. We met a mother-of-five Roukayatou, who made the difficult decision of staying with her children in her village when they didn’t have enough food – rather than pull them out of school to move. We were introduced to 13-year-old Fati, who was now working with her elderly grandmother, panning for scraps of gold in the same mines of Komabangou. We met families that had been torn apart as fathers left their home to look for food for them all to survive. We learnt that these numbers are not just figures - they are people who are struggling to survive.
However there is hope.
Soumaila is now two years old and being treated with a life-saving peanut paste at a nearby health clinic built by World Vision. We have been urgently trying to raise funds and have sent our staff to the region to help; giving out emergency food and water, creating child friendly spaces for children to play, helping gardeners to learn techniques that will help their crops and training midwives to safely deliver babies.
Donations can be given to our West Africa appeal, where every pound donated is a pound matched by the British Government. This money goes towards helping the region be strong and resilient to stop this crisis from happening again and again.
Next week World Vision UK is campaigning to give these children their childhood backs. Follow us on twitter @WorldVisionUK and facebook to get involved
Today I ask you to join me in praying for these children and their families in West Africa. To pray that we can use our hearts to encourage people to bring this story into their own little world, and that families in the region feel touched with the love of Father God and guided by Him through this difficult time.