Thursday, September 27, 2012

How to Save an African Starfish


by Kristin Allen


While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman came across a young man picking up starfish, one by one, and tossing each one gently back into the water.


{source: Liz Ellingsen}
He called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

Sometimes, world issues can seem so big, and human suffering so great, that people can’t imagine how as an individual, they can make a difference.  When you are dealing with a water scarcity crisis that impacts around 1.2 billion people (almost one-fifth of the world's population), it seems even more hopeless.   However, it is BECAUSE the problem is so enormous that everyone MUST get involved.  

Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of water-stressed countries of any region on that continent.  Niger is the second poorest country in the world.   What is the main reason why 1 in 7 infants and children die in rural Niger before the age of 5? Drinking contaminated water.  So the bottom line is…. safe water is key, because safe water saves lives.  

Wells Bring Hope is saving lives in Niger by drilling wells to bring safe water and sanitation to rural villages. They rely on people like you and me to raise money to help them do it.    Once lives are saved by providing safe, clean water to villages, then the people of Niger can actually start LIVING!!   

Women and girls walk 4-6 miles a day to get water and with all of their time taken up by this task, girls can’t go to school.  When a well is drilled, girls are able to go to school, and women can spend their new found time earning an income through microloans provided by Wells Bring Hope…..and mothers can stop living in constant fear that contaminated water is going to kill their children.

So look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I want to save some lives today?”  If the answer is “yes," then you can make it happen through Wells Bring Hope. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Drought vs. Donors in Niger

by Jessi Johnson

 Livestock is life for a family in Niger—the means to pay the dowry for a future bride, the inheritance left for a son, the milk and money that keeps a family alive day to day.  The people of Niger are directly linked to their animals and caring for the results in a healthier community.  So it is a clear sign of their desperation that the people are selling their livestock—for half the normal value—for a chance to feed their children.

{photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann}
What would bring a people so close to despair that they would willingly sell their daily means of survival, as well their cultural inheritance?  Drought after drought after drought has ravaged the homelands of the people for whom selling their last camel, cow or goat is like selling their house and car, just to buy groceries.  To make matters worse, Just 15 percent of the land is arable enough to produce food or raise the precious livestock, meaning that most of the country’s farming population is struggling to survive. In a predominantly rural economy, 80 percent of the people rely on subsistence agriculture to survive.   

{photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann}
Now, for the third time in the last ten years, the country is suffering through a drought.  This drought is perhaps no different or harsher than the droughts Niger has survived over the decades.  What makes it stand out is the pre-emptive measures taken against it by aid agencies; measures that failed to attract the global attention the drought or the Niger people needed.  More than 5 million people in the Sahel region are affected by this drought, and aid organizations wanted to move early before the dire situation became a crisis, but preventative measures are a hard sell when there is no proof to show donors. 

{photo credit: ILRI}
We are proud of the work that our partner, World Vision, is doing to provide food relief but it too doesn’t have all that it needs for adequate relief. For Niger, the gap is $4.4 million out of a $16 million relief budget. The rains have returned, but that doesn't mean that food is instantly available, and along with the rain comes flooding that leads to devastating cholera outbreaks. General food distribution, cash transfers, and supplementary feeding programs must continue.

{photo credit: EC/ECHO}
The good news is that within the last decade, rich oil deposits have been discovered in Niger and it has enough uranium to become the world’s second-largest exporter of the element. Oil and uranium are two of the global economy’s most sought-after commodities, and if managed correctly, could make Niger one of the more stable and balanced countries in the African continent.