#ShareNiger on BBC Radio Leicester

Thanks to @JimDavisonair for speaking to me about #ShareNiger this morning. You can listen to the interview on the audio boo below.

listen to ‘BBC Radio Leicester #ShareNiger interview’ on Audioboo

ShareNiger : At Roukayatou's home

Following on from yesterdays post, A tale of two women, here's a short video that Liz shot of me at Roukayatou's home.

It was very quiet in the car back to base. Both Liz and I are still struggling to get our heads around Roukayatou's position. She represents all of the women on fighting to survive this food crisis.

ShareNiger : A tale of two women

Ramata (38) lives in the Tera region of Niger with her husband Bouriema (50). She has two children of her own, Amadou (22) and Fatima (17) and an adopted daughter Mariama (10).

Ramarta is part of the women’s gardening group that was started by her mother Zeinaba (76) back in 2005.

Ramata (38) from the gardening project in Tera

Zeinaba had noticed that the harvests were getting worse so called together a group of women and suggested starting a gardening group. Together they went to see the local mayor to ask for some land, he agreed and they formalised the group with a certificate.

In the last seven years the gardening group has blossomed. Ramarta has a beautiful home, decorated with the plates and bowls that she collects. Her children are educated and because of her had work in her garden she hasn’t been affected by this food crisis at all.

Ramata outside her immaculate home

Ramarta grows cabbages, aubergines, tomatoes, rice and Moringa trees on her plot and she’s recently been able to buy some livestock with the money she has made selling her crops. Thanks to her, her family is totally self-sufficient. 

Across the village is Roukayatou (36) she lives with her five children Amadou (16), Hama Amadou, (12), Aissatou (11), Hamsatou (8) and Bousraou (5) and her brothers 13 month old daughter Fadima.

Roukayatou (36) and her family are profoundly affected by the food crisis

Roukayatou and her family are profoundly affected by the food crisis. Hearing her speak about her situation is heartbreaking. 

Her husband Hama (45) left months ago to work in the gold mine and she hasn’t heard from him since.

Roukayatou says: "I’m really worried, as I’ve not heard from my husband since he left six months ago. He has gone to work in the gold mine during the dry season every year since we got married. He always sends back money. This year I’ve heard nothing from him."

Roukayatou is also a member of the gardening club but following an accident she was unable to make it to her plot to tend to her crops and they failed. She has no food and no money and she doesn’t know what to do.

Roukayatou and some of her children

There’s no work in her village so her only option is to pack up her family and move to the city but if she did that she would have to pull her children out of school. She doesn’t want to do this but she really doesn’t have any other option.

Roukayatou and her family are currently surviving on the four small bags of cereal supplied by the World Health Organisation to feed her 13-month nephew.

That’s seven people sharing the food for one baby. Time is running out for Roukayatou.

The only toy I have seen in Africa

You can help the people of Niger get through this food crisis and continue to live their lives by helping us spread the #ShareNiger tag on Twitter. We need governments and aid agencies to step in now before it;s too late for women like Roukayatou.

For more information on the crisis in Niger and how you can help, please visit WorldVision.org.uk/westafrica

Thank you to Mirka for awarding this post her Blog Post of the month. I really appreciate it.

#ShareNiger Day 1 : Africa bound

Yesterday morning at 3am I began my #ShareNiger journey to Africa. I've travelled over 2500 miles to Niamey in Niger, West Africa. The difference to where my day began and when it ended really couldn't be more different.

Niger is landlocked, bordering Nigeria and Bennin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. It is the largest nation in West Africa with 80% of it's mass being covered by the Sahara desert.

It's hot here. Really hot. The crops have failed again due to lack of rain and around 15 million people are in need of food assistance. 

The numbers are too great to comprehend but over the next few days I'm going to be telling some individual stories in the hope that you can share them with people that you know.

The trip has been dubbed #ShareNiger and my fellow traveller Liz Scarff (World Vision) has just informed me that we have already reached 1 million people. Not bad going considering we don't get moving until today.
So thank you to everyone who has already tweeted or blogged about #ShareNiger but please don't stop. We need to reach as many people as possible so that we can get aid to Niger now - before it's too late.

Looks like i brought the British weather with me...

Before I head out for the day I would like to say a very big thank you to Nicholas Kristof and his team at Half the Sky for asking me to guest post for his site. If you know me, you know how much that means to me. You can read my first #ShareNiger for Half the Sky post here.