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4 June 2003 by Nahu Senay of Ethiopia Red Cross and Grethe Ostern in Beklcha Biftu Children scream as they cling to their mothers’ skirts. One terrified little girl repeatedly shouts: “Aya guodo – Aunt, save me!” Older children stand around wide-eyed, trying to work out what is going on. Amidst the commotion, two busy Ethiopian Red Cross volunteers cannot help but smile as they weigh and measure the children of the village. Child after child under the age of five is lifted into the blue pants that are hung from the weighing scale. With strong arms, 18-year-old volunteer Nasir Aliye lifts the scale high to make sure the child is swinging freely, whilst his colleague, Abdurhaman Mume, 38, reads off the correct weight. “7.2 kilos!” Abdurhaman says, and the figure is duly registered in the nutritional survey form by Almaz Yemer from Ethiopian Red Cross headquarters. As soon as the weight has been registered, Abdurhaman picks up the scared child, strokes its cheeks and pats it gently on the bottom to soothe and comfort. “There is nothing to be afraid of,” he says. The measuring board is next, and the two volunteers make sure that it is done correctly - body straight, feet flat, knees in, chin up. Many of the children that the volunteers weigh and measure are malnourished and sick, some too weak to stand, one totally blind because his face is swollen from malnutrition. “We are tired, but don’t really feel it,” Nasir says, as the 120th child in two days of hard, non-stop work has been measured and weighed. “On the one hand, I am very happy to have been able to help. On the other hand it is very hard to face the trouble that these children are in.” “Being a father myself, it is tough for me to see these children,” says Abdurhaman. “They are hungry and weak. Many of them will die.” He, Nasir and Almaz have been taking part in a nutritional survey that the Ethiopia Red Cross is carrying out with the support of the International Federation. We joined them when they were surveying four drought-stricken villages in Beklcha-Biftu in the Doba district of West Harerghe. To get from village to village, the volunteers have to walk for hours up and down hills and valleys, often experiencing sweltering sun and driving rain on the same day. Arriving in a village, they spin a pen to choose a direction in which to start walking, and go randomly from house to house. “I am more than impressed by the amount of efforts that Ethiopian Red Cross volunteers are putting into accessing remote areas with their equipment,” says nutritionist Paul Rees-Thomas of British Red Cross, who has been working together with Ethiopian Red Cross in starting up the nutritional survey. He points out that a lot of effort has been invested in training the volunteers in how to carry out nutritional evaluations. “This investment is extremely important, remembering the cyclical nature of the drought problem in Ethiopia. It is vital for improving our understanding of which types of programmes are appropriate,” he adds. To make the best possible use of the daylight, Nasir, Abdurahman and Almaz even spent the night on the earth floor of a house in one of the villages where they carried out their assessment. When they woke up in the morning, a large crowd of people was standing outside their door. It was the people from the next village. They had come to the Red Cross representatives themselves, afraid that they would go home in the morning instead of coming to their village as promised. “Villagers in the drought-stricken areas think that unless their children are measured and weighed, they will not get food relief,” Abdurhaman explains. “But we explain to them that we are trying to assess the general situation in the area as a basis for decisions on relief needs.” “They need more help. The assistance that has been given so far is not sufficient. There are villages which we have not reached this time, where conditions are even worse,” say the two volunteers. Related links: Ethiopia: appeals, updates and news stories Make a donation |
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