Véronique
Aya Kwame’s grin is infectious, as she welcomes travel-weary
colleagues to the food distribution base of the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the town
of Agadez in Niger.
Véronique is a long-time Red Cross volunteer from the
Ivory Coast, now working as a translator and administrator in
one of the two main International Federation food distribution
centres in Niger.
In Tahoua, another town in Niger, Dr Balla Conde has the kind
of caring look that every mother would wish to see, if she were
searching for help with a malnourished child.
Balla, who is normally the head of the health department at
the Guinea Conakry Red Cross, has been running the Federation’s
supplementary feeding centre in Tahoua since August. To date,
9,942 children have been treated here.
Working with him, Alice Loumpangou, a nutritionist from the
Congo Red Cross, says her heart breaks every time she sees a
severely ill child. Yet her enthusiasm is warm.
And so it goes, in Niamey, in Tahoua, Maradi, Bamako, Timbuktu
and Ouagadougou.
They work in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Mauritania, where
eight million people have been threatened by hunger this year
after a drought and locust invasion.
Sixteen highly trained volunteers from eight west, central and
northern African Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are assisting
their colleagues in Sahel Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies.
These fellow Africans occupy key positions - in health, logistics,
relief, administration, finances, telecommunications –
crucial roles in a humanitarian operation that counts on experienced
personnel to provide assistance fast and effectively.
“The Regional Disaster Response Teams play a vital role.
Without them, we definitely couldn’t make this operation
work,” says Steven Loyst, the Federation’s Head
of Operations.
Regional Disaster Response Teams, often called RDRTs, were set
up by the International Federation to improve the capacity of
National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies to respond quickly
and effectively to disasters by harnessing the experts from
neighbouring Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies. The experts,
who volunteer for short disaster missions, undergo specialised
training so that they can participate in a rapid-response team.
Prosper Gbetie, from Benin, was among the first to have undergone
regional disaster response training, when the teams were initially
formed in the 1990s. He was also one of the first to arrive
on the ground in response to the Sahel food crisis.
“On a Friday afternoon in August, I got a phone call from
the International Federation’s regional delegation in
Dakar. By Sunday I was already there for three days of briefing
before going to Niger.”
The International Federation’s regional delegation in
Dakar, Senegal, pulled together the Regional Disaster Response
Team by contacting National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies
in Africa, selecting volunteers.
“When I arrived in Niamey, I quickly saw that this was
going to be a big operation. The first days were spent building
up the operation and getting a bigger picture of the crisis
and its implications,” explains Prosper.
A volunteer since 1979 with the Benin Red Cross, Prosper has
grown up professionally in his Red Cross Society to become its
director of relief. Although from a neighboring country, this
was his first time in Niger. He has traveled the vast country
extensively since arriving.
“As I have experience in responding to emergencies, I’m
very happy to be able to share this knowledge with the Niger
Red Cross and I’m hoping that my contribution is beneficial
for them.”
Indeed, this is the first international relief operation that
the Agadez branch and other branches of the Niger Red Cross
have been involved in. Many volunteers have had to be recruited
and trained for the operation. The challenge now is to set up
long term activities not only to improve people’s lives,
but also to maintain the commitment of the new volunteers.
John Roche, a relief delegate for the International Federation
based in Agadez, says regional delegates add value to their
international colleagues by bringing different perspectives
into the operation, in addition to local experience and knowledge.
“It is inspirational for the volunteers we work with,
since they see that one day they could be deployed to another
country to assist a sister National Society of the Red Cross
or Red Crescent,” says Roche.
In a corner of the Agadez office, Prosper and Gilbert Corniglion,
a Canadian relief delegate, are discussing a recent distribution
in the remote communities of the Bagzan Valley, carried out
with the help of mules. They laugh and slap each other on the
back, in recognition of an operation well done.
It is also about learning and exchange, as Véronique
explains, her eyes shining.
“For me, it is like a veil which lifts slowly. I am learning
something from each and every one of my colleagues.”
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Dr balla and Alice, a nutritionist from Congo RC in Tahoua,
north of Niger, were the Federation has been running supplementary
feeding centers for malnourished children under five years
old.(p13663)
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Alice,
a nutritionist RDRT from Congo RC says her heart breaks
every time she sees a severely ill child. (p13664)
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Véronique,
RDRT member from Ivory Coast. Véronique always
has a welcoming smile for all colleagues arriving to the
Federation's food distribution base in Agadez.(p13665)
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