Squatting on the concrete steps of the health centre in Damota Pulassa, three-year old Aster Alemu seems oblivious to the adults passing by. A grey tee shirt is the only piece of clothing covering the fragile body. She frowns as she waves with her hand at the flies congregating on her shaven skull. The beauty of her eyes is accentuated by her tiny body. Aster Alemu is severely malnourished.
Inside the health centre the light coming through the mosquito nets and the floating dust plunges the room into a strange haze. Breastfeeding her three month-old baby, Negestu Lentcha casts an absent glance over her 4 year-old daughter, Akilimu Asarat whose protruding rib cage and scars on chest and belly are indicative of marasmic kwashiorkor.
Aster and Akilimu are two of the 162 children coming every week from villages of Wolayita for intensive feeding. Six months earlier the Damota Pulassa health centre was assisting 10 to 15 children. Statistically, for every severely malnourished child, one should count 10 to 20 malnourished children. It means that in Damota Pulassa alone there could be between 2000 and 4000 malnourished children for a population of 130,000. Health specialists consider this numbers very alarming.
“It takes an average of 10 days of specialised care until their condition is stabilized and brought to normal malnutrition levels,” says Nurse Mentewab Zenebe, in charge of the centre, underlining that children are then sent home with some supplement feeding and followed in 5 outpatient centres.
But at home there are hungry brothers and sisters. Desperate parents share the food between all of them thus limiting the possibilities for a full recovery of the weakest. A vicious circle ensues where children end up for a second or third time at the intensive care centre. Being exposed repeatedly to severe malnutrition often proves too much to bear for these frail bodies. Last month alone, 18 malnourished children died.
“The green drought hit Wolayita just like earthquakes do. Some houses collapse entirely while the house next door ironically continues to stand. Here, fields of maize are barely 50 cm high while on one or two plots the same crop has managed to mature. There, the lucky farmer will not eat the fruit but rather attempt to sell it along the road side to get some money and eventually buy more food,” assesses Nancy Balfour, Eastern Africa Disaster Management Coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The Ethiopian Red Cross and the International Federation are determined to break the malnutrition circle. A careful targeting of 40,000 most vulnerable people across Wolayita was conducted together with authority and community representatives.
“Communities themselves have included the families of the malnourished children on our lists,”,assures Seifu Worku, the Red Cross branch Secretary.
Some 300 heads of families have gathered for the food distribution today, in the village of Lera. Thick clouds hang over the village. Whirls of wind blow the dust across the place. It is a dark morning and the cacophony of joyful voices turns into screams of panic as people try to find shelter under the roof of the warehouse. The sudden downpour scatters the group in all directions. Volunteers hurry to cover the food with large plastic sheeting. After a few minutes a drizzle replaces the heavy rain. The food distribution can continue.
Guided by volunteers, people access the distribution area in groups of four. They unite their forces to carry sacks of 100kg to donkey carts rented from wealthier neighbours. They slip, slide and eventually fall on the muddy soil. After a one hour journey the precious cargo will reach their villages and the food will be shared in equal parts under the supervision of a Red Cross volunteer.
Towards the afternoon the sun drives away the drizzle while the first donkey carts reach the village of Siara. A canvas is hurriedly thrown on the ground. The bag is torn open by eager hands. An empty oil can is produced as well as three empty bags. The sharing starts and a cloud of maize dust hovers over the commotion. Eyes are shining and faces widen in large smiles as the men pass their hands deep into the maize bag and weigh the grains in appreciation before letting them fall again on the pile. Many more people gather around the four men and watch with envious eyes.
This evening, in Wolayita, children will no longer sleep on an empty stomach.
*Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu is IFRC’s communication manager for Eastern Africa
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Food distribution by the Ethiopian Red Cross in Wolayita. (p17829) (Photo: José Cendon/International Federation)
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“The green drought hit Wolayita just like earthquakes do. Some houses collapse entirely while the house next door ironically continues to stand. Here, fields of maize are barely 50 cm high while on one or two plots the same crop has managed to mature. (REUTERS/Radu Sigheti/courtesy www.alertnet.org)
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This evening, in Wolayita, children will no longer sleep on an empty stomach. (p17831) (José Cendon/International Federation)
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