wfn.org | Lutheran World Relief Working to Reverse Food Deficits in Niger

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 22, 2005

Lutheran World Relief Working to Reverse Food Deficits in Niger
05-178-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kathryn Wolford, president, Lutheran World
Relief (LWR), visited West Africa in early September to see
firsthand the effects of chronic food deficits in Niger, to offer
additional assistance to partner agencies there and to return
with information for U.S. Lutherans.  LWR is the overseas relief
and development ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     "I am pleased to report that due to our incredible partners,
our staff and our supporters, LWR was among the first aid
agencies to get food distributed to severely affected communities
in Niger," Wolford said in an LWR news release.
     "Even though the food crisis has faded from the headlines,
it still continues and needs our constant attention," she said.
     "The people who live in villages where LWR partners have
been doing long-term development work fared better than others;
the children were healthier and their parents were strong enough
to continue working in their fields," Wolford said.  "Where we
had not done work, we witnessed visibly malnourished children,
heard of people who abandoned their fields or even their villages
and had nothing to fall back on."
     "It's clear that we need to focus a great deal of energy and
effort to address the natural and manmade forces that, left
alone, will only continue the cycle of poverty and the
possibility for starvation," she said.
     LWR is the implementing partner of an appeal through Action
by Churches Together (ACT) International -- a worldwide network
of churches and related agencies that meets human need through
organized emergency response.  ACT is based with the World
Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva,
Switzerland.
     Through the church's International Disaster Response,
members of the ELCA sent $40,000 as an initial response to the
ACT appeal.  ELCA International Disaster Response sent an
additional $100,000 directly to LWR for its work in Niger, said
the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, spokesperson, ELCA Division for
Global Mission.
     The ACT appeal is to provide short-term supplemental food
assistance to affected villages in the Dakoro area of Maradi
region, Dogueraoua and Yama in Tahoua region and Balleyara in
Tillaberi region.  Those areas were chosen in consultation with
LWR's partner agencies in Niger and with the Emergency Task
Force, a crisis group the Niger government created to coordinate
activities related to the disaster response.
     LWR is a registered nongovernmental organization in Niger.
It has worked in the West African nation for 30 years on such
goals as to improve agricultural practices for sustainable rural
livelihoods and food security, and to ensure an available water
supply for dry-season gardening.
     LWR staffs an office in Niger and works through local relief
organizations that work primarily with rural populations to
implement innovative development programs in such areas as
agriculture, health, food security, education and human rights.
     Before leaving Baltimore, where LWR is based, Wolford
described the situation in Niger.  "These are people who have
suffered through three droughts, so they have exhausted all of
their supplies of seeds.  They've sold off whatever animals they
had to buy food, and they are literally now dependent on external
food aid to get them through the next harvest," she said.
     "We are helping them build new cereal banks, where they can
store seeds from the next harvest.  We'll supplement that,"
Wolford said.  "They will be able to save seeds then for future
planting," she said.
     Helping the people of Niger move toward long-term self-
reliance, LWR will also help them purchase animals and dig wells.
     Wolford said there is food in West Africa, but LWR is
working with people who cannot afford to buy food even when it's
available.  "We can purchase food from other parts of Niger or
from Nigeria ... stimulating the local economy," she said.
     After visiting food distribution sites in Niger, Wolford
said, "I was incredibly impressed with our partners' ability to
distribute food in ways that respected the dignity of the
people."
     "While it is clear that the first food distributions have
helped many people avoid starvation, there is still much to do.
While the October harvest should be good, farmers had to borrow
money to grow their current crops.  They've essentially already
'sold' their October crops on a futures market, and not at good
prices, just to be able to buy enough food to feed their
families," she said.
     "Most people wouldn't think of LWR as a player in market
forces, but, in situations like these, we work with our partners
to control prices by infusing the market with cash -- buying
commodities at a higher price to replace the cereal stock and
lower prices," Wolford said.
- - -
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
1-800-638-3522 and http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/idrgive on the
Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news