“As
a Red Cross volunteer, you should be used to seeing things like
this but sometimes tears run down your face without you noticing.
It’s a human reaction. Sometimes what you see is overwhelming.”
Oscar has been a Red Cross volunteer in Maradi, Niger, for more
than 20 years. He’s tall, thin, wears big glasses and
his face lights up when he smiles.
Oscar joined the Red Cross ‘because of its humanity’
and take’s every opportunity to recite the organisation’s
seven guiding principles. An amateur actor, he stages plays
in his community. “We use theatre to teach people about
first aid and how to prevent or live with HIV/AIDS, polio, meningitis
and malaria,” he explains.
Today he is working at the supplementary feeding centres set
up by the Spanish Red Cross with the logistical and medical
support of the International Federation. Drought and a locust
invasion have destroyed crops in this West African country where
poverty is chronic and the infant mortality rate is one of the
highest in the world. Many families have been forced to sell
their animals and means of subsistence.
An estimated 20% of children under the age of five in Niger
are moderately malnourished. Oscar’s task is to show their
mothers how to use Unimix, an enriched food of soya, corn and
vitamins mixed with oil that will hasten recovery and prevent
diseases.
“It is very important that they understand how to use
it,” he explains. “They need to know how much their
child needs every day and that the water used to mix it must
be boiled beforehand to prevent the children becoming more sick.”
With support from the International Federation, the Niger Red
Cross is providing supplementary feeding and basic health services
to 24,500 children and their families in four of the most affected
areas. In Maradi, the Red Cross is aiming to support 6,000 moderately
malnourished children under five.
The Spanish Red Cross opened the first centre in Chadakori,
a small village north of Maradi. Five further centres have since
been opened in Maiki, Souloulou, Guidan Roumji, Sae Saboua and
Dargue.
“In less than two weeks we have been able to help nearly
3,000 moderately malnourished children and their families,”
explains Lorenzo Violante, Spanish Red Cross delegate and the
programme coordinator.
“Another 140 severely malnourished children have been
identified and transferred to the Médecins Sans Frontières
clinic. We are targeting the most vulnerable, particularly children
and pregnant or lactating women. The numbers increase every
day.”
In Chadakori, hundreds of children wait with their mothers to
be measured and checked by a Niger Red Cross nurse. ”There
are so many people,” says Oscar. “You would like
to help them all.”
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Oscar
has been a Red Cross volunteer in Maradi, Niger, for more
than 20 years. (p13181)
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Oscar’s
task is to show their mothers how to use Unimix, an enriched
food of soya, corn and vitamins mixed with oil that will
hasten recovery and prevent diseases. (p13180)
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|
|
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They
need to know how much their child needs every day and
that the water used to mix it must be boiled beforehand
to prevent the children becoming more sick", Oscar
explains. (p13179)
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In Chadakori, hundreds of children wait with their mothers
to be measured and checked by a Niger Red Cross nurse.
(p13182)
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