The picture is of a family in Niger who are surviving on millet residue, a material that is usually thrown away, or, at best, fed to animals. The husband left for Nigeria, looking for work, and has not been heard from.
Hunger in the Sahel
Once again, hunger is on the march in the Sahel region of western and central Africa.
The countries affected are Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Mauretania.
This is a developing situation, currently affecting somewhere between 12 and 15 million people.
Early intervention is agreed to be crucial – and this situation is in its early stages,
but it bears an uncanny similarity to the development of the 2011 crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The main causes are continuing drought (on and off since 2005), insect infestation, crop failure,
food price rises, all compounded by political violence, particularly in Mali,
from where 200,000 refugees have left for other countries which are struggling to feed their own people.
ElectricAid has decided on early intervention in this crisis. On 1st June,
we committed €50,000 of our reserves to 7 Irish based agencies active in the region.
These funds will go for emergency feeding, cash-for-work, infant nutrition, horticulture schemes,
and support for refugees, IDPs, and their host families. The funding will be spent in Niger, Mali and Mauretania.
We are not launching a Special Appeal at this time.
We will keep this developing crisis under close review; if the situation deteriorates,
we will have no option but to reach out once again to our friends and supporters.
Of course, you are more than welcome to make a once-off donation to ElectricAid.
We will make sure that any such donations received will be added to the funds already committed,
and will be well used in the Sahel.
ElectricAid
ESB Staff Fund
27 Lower Fitzwilliam Street,Dublin2
Telephone 01 7027732
ElectricAid once-off donation form
Name ______________________________________________________
Staff No ______________________
Work location _________________________________________________
Signature ___________________________________________________
Please deduct once-off from my salary/pension and pay to ElectricAid:
€5: _________________
€10: _________________
€20: _________________
€50: _________________
Other Amount: _________________
The amount deducted to be paid to ElectricAid – payroll code 5202. I understand that my contributions may be used for all ElectricAid projects – home and abroad.
