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 A little girl searches for cactus fruit in Beklcha Biftu. Cactus fruit is only consumed by people in this area in times of severe hardship (p10311)  Sara Abdo Musa tries to feed her malnourished nephew Jemale with cactus fruits, even though she knows they will cause intestinal obstruction (p10312)  Collecting firewood has become an important mans of short-term survival for many Ethiopians. However, it is leading to irreversible environmental destruction in many areas (p10313) |
Ethiopians resort to desperate measures to
survive
26 August 2003
by Nahu Senay of Ethiopia Red Cross and Grethe Ostern in West Harerghe
The fruit of the “Tini” and “Hademi” cactuses that grow in West Harerghe cause severe constipation. The people here know this. But they eat them just the same. A chronic lack of food is forcing them to make use of whatever nature brings them.
This morning, Sara Abdo Musa has gone scouring the hills above her village for cactus fruit. From beautiful, yellow flowers on thorny leaves, it ripens three times a year, and is just starting to come into season again.
“I was guessing that I would find at least one or two, and I found five small ones,” says Sara, who tries to feed the red, stony flesh of the cactus fruit to a severely malnourished nephew.
“We do not eat cactus fruit unless there is a crisis”, Sara explains.
“With the food aid that we received from the Red Cross we are able to have two meals a day. Before we got the food aid, we had to eat a lot of cactus fruit, and I am sure that we will have to start eating it again as soon as it is ripe” says Nuria Omarta, a 30-year-old mother of three.
No choice
One of her children is four years old Adem Abdi Omar, whose feet and ankles have started to swell due to malnutrition.
“The taste of the cactus fruit is not good, but we have no choice. It hurts our stomachs. The children especially suffer from eating it,” she says.
Nuria has a small amount of lentils and maize left from the last round of Red Cross food distribution. Now she is waiting for the next round.
“They have told us we will get food every month,” she says and looks at us with hope. However, this will depend on the response from donors around the world.
Sara and Nuria’s village, Wodaye Jami, is located in the highland area of Beklcha Biftu, which means “gate of the morning moon” - a land normally blessed with fertile soil covered with a green carpet of agricultural produce, a land that usually manages to feed its inhabitants and even produce a surplus.
But a lack of rain has now transformed it into an empty basket. All the families we spoke to said that they are suffering from lack of food.
In the lowlands, where it is even drier and the cattle are dying, the consumption of cacti is even more widespread, according to Ethiopia Red Cross staff and volunteers who know the area well.
“We have also observed that grasses and leaves which are not used much in normal years, now are being added to porridge,” says consultant nutritionist Paul Rees-Thomas from the British Red Cross.
Future vulnerability
Other coping strategies being employed by the population include selling off their important possessions and reducing the number of meals per day. There has also been an increase in migration.
“In response to the drought, households are unfortunately beginning to resort to coping strategies that are destructive to their own environment and which increase their future vulnerability,” says Rees-Thomas.
Ethiopian Red Cross volunteers and staff say the number of people selling firewood and coal by the roadside has increased considerably. Women and children collect firewood and the men burn coal.
Instead of leading to a drop in prices, it has actually caused them to rise, because the large number of people engaged in this activity has led to a shortage of wood. Volunteer Berhanu Obse, who also works in the health clinic in Dobba town, tells us that a bundle of wood that cost 2-3 birr in December now costs up to 5 birr. A sack of coal that was priced at 18-20 birr just four months ago is now 25 birr.
“The government is trying to control this activity, but it’s difficult. People don’t know what else to do. It’s bad. If we have no forest, we will certainly have no rain,” says Obse.
Last resort
The last resort for survival is begging.
“We have nothing to eat, and our survival now depends on the few coins which our children bring from begging from the townspeople,” say Sherifo Ami and his wife Memuna Seid, who live in the village Yero.
They have not eaten since yesterday, when they had one meal of roasted beans. Now they wait for their children to come back. It is easier for the children to beg.
One of their smallest children, a three-year-old boy, weighs less than 7 kg and is just 71 cm tall. He is severely malnourished. His red Kertesa-necklace, believed to cure illness, is not working.
When we ask Sherifo how they are coping, he brings his hands to his head in despair and answers in a loud voice:
“Don’t you understand? We don’t!”
Related links:
Ethiopia Food Security appeal - latest operations update
Ethiopia: appeals, updates and reports
Responding to famine
Make a donation
26 August 2003
by Nahu Senay of Ethiopia Red Cross and Grethe Ostern in West Harerghe
The fruit of the “Tini” and “Hademi” cactuses that grow in West Harerghe cause severe constipation. The people here know this. But they eat them just the same. A chronic lack of food is forcing them to make use of whatever nature brings them.
This morning, Sara Abdo Musa has gone scouring the hills above her village for cactus fruit. From beautiful, yellow flowers on thorny leaves, it ripens three times a year, and is just starting to come into season again.
“I was guessing that I would find at least one or two, and I found five small ones,” says Sara, who tries to feed the red, stony flesh of the cactus fruit to a severely malnourished nephew.
“We do not eat cactus fruit unless there is a crisis”, Sara explains.
“With the food aid that we received from the Red Cross we are able to have two meals a day. Before we got the food aid, we had to eat a lot of cactus fruit, and I am sure that we will have to start eating it again as soon as it is ripe” says Nuria Omarta, a 30-year-old mother of three.
No choice
One of her children is four years old Adem Abdi Omar, whose feet and ankles have started to swell due to malnutrition.
“The taste of the cactus fruit is not good, but we have no choice. It hurts our stomachs. The children especially suffer from eating it,” she says.
Nuria has a small amount of lentils and maize left from the last round of Red Cross food distribution. Now she is waiting for the next round.
“They have told us we will get food every month,” she says and looks at us with hope. However, this will depend on the response from donors around the world.
Sara and Nuria’s village, Wodaye Jami, is located in the highland area of Beklcha Biftu, which means “gate of the morning moon” - a land normally blessed with fertile soil covered with a green carpet of agricultural produce, a land that usually manages to feed its inhabitants and even produce a surplus.
But a lack of rain has now transformed it into an empty basket. All the families we spoke to said that they are suffering from lack of food.
In the lowlands, where it is even drier and the cattle are dying, the consumption of cacti is even more widespread, according to Ethiopia Red Cross staff and volunteers who know the area well.
“We have also observed that grasses and leaves which are not used much in normal years, now are being added to porridge,” says consultant nutritionist Paul Rees-Thomas from the British Red Cross.
Future vulnerability
Other coping strategies being employed by the population include selling off their important possessions and reducing the number of meals per day. There has also been an increase in migration.
“In response to the drought, households are unfortunately beginning to resort to coping strategies that are destructive to their own environment and which increase their future vulnerability,” says Rees-Thomas.
Ethiopian Red Cross volunteers and staff say the number of people selling firewood and coal by the roadside has increased considerably. Women and children collect firewood and the men burn coal.
Instead of leading to a drop in prices, it has actually caused them to rise, because the large number of people engaged in this activity has led to a shortage of wood. Volunteer Berhanu Obse, who also works in the health clinic in Dobba town, tells us that a bundle of wood that cost 2-3 birr in December now costs up to 5 birr. A sack of coal that was priced at 18-20 birr just four months ago is now 25 birr.
“The government is trying to control this activity, but it’s difficult. People don’t know what else to do. It’s bad. If we have no forest, we will certainly have no rain,” says Obse.
Last resort
The last resort for survival is begging.
“We have nothing to eat, and our survival now depends on the few coins which our children bring from begging from the townspeople,” say Sherifo Ami and his wife Memuna Seid, who live in the village Yero.
They have not eaten since yesterday, when they had one meal of roasted beans. Now they wait for their children to come back. It is easier for the children to beg.
One of their smallest children, a three-year-old boy, weighs less than 7 kg and is just 71 cm tall. He is severely malnourished. His red Kertesa-necklace, believed to cure illness, is not working.
When we ask Sherifo how they are coping, he brings his hands to his head in despair and answers in a loud voice:
“Don’t you understand? We don’t!”
Related links:
Ethiopia Food Security appeal - latest operations update
Ethiopia: appeals, updates and reports
Responding to famine
Make a donation