Friday 14 October
Back in Niamey the operation is still going on with
some changes. General food distributions are finishing,
the supplementary feeding centers will be soon be
integrated into the local health centers, which provide
support on health issues at community level, and long
lasting programmes such as water and sanitation will
soon commence.
For more than two months I've been writing this diary
to try to share what our life here is like. At the
same time, I have wanted to bridge the gap and make
the reality of how people live here a bit closer to
readers.
As a dear friend of mine once told me, writing about
what we see doesn't make being a witness easy. At
the same time, our own discomfort and sorrow at what
we see is nothing next to the fact of having to live
it.
Thursday 13 October
The day starts at five o'clock in the morning, with
preparations for the relief distributions. Distances
are great here. The furthest distribution point is
nearly three hours by car which complicates the logistics
of it. Distributions will last the whole day, with
beneficiaries, mainly Tuaregs, arriving drop by drop
since they are all scattered around and have to travel
long distances.
In the afternoon, we head back to Agadez, yet another
bumpy trip.
Tuesday 11 October
Tomorrow, the second and last round of general food
distributions will start. In total, more than 2,200
people will receive food.
The team spends the whole day organizing and making
the necessary preparations for it. Wednesday 12 October
Early in the morning, we head towards Tabelot, four
and a half hours by car north of Agadez. The terrain
is very uneven and the landscape is very different
from what I've seen until now. It is a valley surrounded
by mountains with patches of, sand, palm trees, and
dark-rocky surfaces.
Upon arrival we are greeted by the local authorities
and by 17 Niger Red Cross volunteers from the area.
It's nice to see how enthusiastic they are about the
programme.
We spend the night in Tabelot, at the home of one
of the Red Cross volunteers, only 40 km from the Ténéré
desert. Especially in Ramadan, most of the social
life happens at night when people gather to eat and
comment on the news from the day, under a beautiful
limpid and starry sky.
Monday 10 October
The Agadez team is an interesting mixture of people
from Benin, Ireland, Ivory Coast and Canada that,
together with the Niger staff, form a very dynamic
team, very much needed for the challenges they are
facing.
In Agadez, the Red Cross is running two operations:
supplementary feeding centers for malnourished children
under five years old, funded by the French Red Cross,
and general food distributions specially targeting
nomadic and semi-nomadic populations who are difficult
to reach, difficult to find.
Sunday 9 October
We manage to take the day off today. I wanted to take
advantage of this but I ended up spending most of
the day in my room hiding from the desert heat. At
night, temperatures go down to 34 degrees which encourages
us to get out and wander around the market to see
the richness and variety of the Tuareg handicraft
and clothes. We are able to enjoy some of their traditional
music too.
Saturday 8 October
Today it is two months since I first arrived. Time
here goes very quickly.
And, for the first time since I'm here I'm able to
watch BBC news. There is sad news today: an earthquake
in Pakistan and heavy floods caused by Hurricane Stan
in Central America. Having lived through various hurricanes
and seen the aftermath of an earthquake, my thoughts
today are with the victims and their families and
also with my Red Cross or Red Crescent colleagues
involved in the relief operations.
Friday 7 October
After a stop-over in Tahoua, where we are joined by
two of our colleagues heading back to Niamey, we arrive
to Agadez on the World Food Programme plane. It is
a luxury for my bones – a two-hour flight instead
of two long days by road.
The city is hot, dusty and very dry, although summer
won't arrive until late March.
Agadez has a different feeling from the Niger cities
I've been to so far. European tourists mix with people
from all over Africa, all of them bringing their own
way of living, including their own music.
On the salt route and once a mayor stop-over for the
great camel caravans that crossed the desert, Agadez
has become a stopover for many people from surrounding
countries following a dream for a better life in Europe,
through Libya or Algeria. Some will never make it
through the harsh desert. Others will be stopped at
the various borders. Only a few will manage to cross
to Europe and live to tell their story.
Thursday 6 October
I'm going to Agadez tomorrow. They are finishing
the second and last round of distributions in this
mythical part of the country, mainly inhabited by
nomads. For the first time since arriving in the country,
I'm going to be traveling by plane.
Wednesday 5 October
Today Ramadan is starting. For one month,
most of our volunteers and some of our colleagues
will be following it.
As every morning, I'm greeted by our local colleagues
with, “Good morning? how are you?” and,
“How is your tiredness?" At the beginning
the last made me think that I must be looking really
tired since everybody kept saying this day after day.
Afterwards, I realized that it didn't matter whether
I had had a good night’s sleep or not, they
kept saying it. I felt relieved when I realized that
it is part of the greeting! I was starting to get
worried.
Disaster management
