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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Joanna Boer sent us these pictures from the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
The leaves on the rubber tree in her garden were devoured when a swarm of locusts descended on the city on the night of 4 August. But other trees were left untouched.
After first moving south from their breeding grounds in North Africa towards West Africa, the threat has now reversed.
A new wave of locusts is hatching and as vegetation disappears in the semi-desert of the Sahel (Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Chad) at the end of the rainy season, they are heading back north. After years of drought, this year's heavy rains have provided the perfect conditions for the locusts to breed.
Aid agencies say the crisis was foreseen months ago but nothing was done.
The spectre of skeletal children too weak to support the weight of their own heads is yet to be seen in Mauritania.
People at the treatment centres in Niger are luckier than others who still wander the desert in search of food.
Doctors are fighting to save lives at the camps, where children are said to be dying every day.
God, I know You see them, You see their needs, and it breaks Your heart. God, please send people there to bring them food and to bring Your love. Lord, I know You love them and You long for them to know that. I know You won't let Your people starve, but You will rain down blessings of abundance. Send me soon, God, to tell them. Help me pass all my tests quickly. You are the Bread of Life, the Giver of all good things.
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. "
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Eveline pops at |2:07 PM|
Captivate my heart, dear Jesus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Urgent Needs in Niger as 800,000 Children Face Hunger
The United Nations still has only about a third of the money it needs to feed millions of starving people in famine-stricken Niger, amid warnings that 800,000 children will soon die without food aid.
Drought and locust swarms destroyed most of the crops, driving the price of food out of reach for the poor.
Officials estimate 2.5 to 3.6 million people in Niger may go hungry.
At risk are an estimated 800,000 children under age five, including more than 100,000 who are severely malnourished. World Vision staff members fear that 10 percent of the children in some areas could die.
It was last November when a plague of locusts and drought sparked warnings that the poor, desert nation of Niger would soon face famine, but the world took no notice.
But Niger is not the only place in the region where starvation is a reality. It just happens to be the place where the film crew has been. This isn't just about Niger, this is about Mali, this is about Mauritania.The food crisis is across the whole of the Sahel Region. Niger is the worst affected country at the moment. The combination of the locust invasion and drought which has brought a food crisis to Niger is set to affect the entire Sahel region of West Africa.
Swarms of locusts have been darkening skies across north-west Africa in what the UN warns could be the worst plague in 15 years. A ton of locusts, which is a tiny part of the average swarm, eats the same amount of food in a single day as 10 elephants, 25 camels or 2,500 people.
The United Nations still has only about a third of the money it needs to feed millions of starving people in famine-stricken Niger, amid warnings that 800,000 children will soon die without food aid.
Drought and locust swarms destroyed most of the crops, driving the price of food out of reach for the poor.
Officials estimate 2.5 to 3.6 million people in Niger may go hungry.
At risk are an estimated 800,000 children under age five, including more than 100,000 who are severely malnourished. World Vision staff members fear that 10 percent of the children in some areas could die.
It was last November when a plague of locusts and drought sparked warnings that the poor, desert nation of Niger would soon face famine, but the world took no notice.
But Niger is not the only place in the region where starvation is a reality. It just happens to be the place where the film crew has been. This isn't just about Niger, this is about Mali, this is about Mauritania.The food crisis is across the whole of the Sahel Region. Niger is the worst affected country at the moment. The combination of the locust invasion and drought which has brought a food crisis to Niger is set to affect the entire Sahel region of West Africa.
Swarms of locusts have been darkening skies across north-west Africa in what the UN warns could be the worst plague in 15 years. A ton of locusts, which is a tiny part of the average swarm, eats the same amount of food in a single day as 10 elephants, 25 camels or 2,500 people.
Joanna Boer sent us these pictures from the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
The leaves on the rubber tree in her garden were devoured when a swarm of locusts descended on the city on the night of 4 August. But other trees were left untouched.
After first moving south from their breeding grounds in North Africa towards West Africa, the threat has now reversed.
A new wave of locusts is hatching and as vegetation disappears in the semi-desert of the Sahel (Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Chad) at the end of the rainy season, they are heading back north. After years of drought, this year's heavy rains have provided the perfect conditions for the locusts to breed.
Aid agencies say the crisis was foreseen months ago but nothing was done.
The spectre of skeletal children too weak to support the weight of their own heads is yet to be seen in Mauritania.
People at the treatment centres in Niger are luckier than others who still wander the desert in search of food.
Doctors are fighting to save lives at the camps, where children are said to be dying every day.
God, I know You see them, You see their needs, and it breaks Your heart. God, please send people there to bring them food and to bring Your love. Lord, I know You love them and You long for them to know that. I know You won't let Your people starve, but You will rain down blessings of abundance. Send me soon, God, to tell them. Help me pass all my tests quickly. You are the Bread of Life, the Giver of all good things.
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. "
John4:13
Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
John 6:35
"I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is a bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."
John 6:48-50
Eveline pops at |2:07 PM|