Mali: report 2009

July 2009: We are still waiting for the rains.  Huge clouds cross the sky but produce only a few drops of rain which fail to even dampen the ground.  For the first time, July was a dry month.  The children are thirsty and often resort to drinking dirty water.

The URENI (Nutritional Recovery Unit) remains full.  Every day more sick and malnourished children arrive.  The average length of stay in the hospital is 20 days.

In the surrounding countryside the prolonged drought is taking its toll.  The ground is littered with the bodies of animals.  The nomadic farmers have lost much of their livestock and have to leave in search of better pastures.  They take their families with them, often including malnourished children who are undergoing treatment.

To top it all, the WFP (World Food Programme) is experiencing delays in its deliveries of foodstuffs.  Famine lies in wait for the poor and we are on the brink of a disaster.

Despite the overwhelming heat and the many electricity and water cuts, Sophie remains in good spirits and maintains her belief in the possibility of a better future.

August 2009 :  Is this one of the effects of global warming?  The rainy season has come so late and so little rain has fallen that we have serious concerns for the months to come.  The season started on the 1st August, Swiss National Day, so both those of us in Switzerland and those in Mali had cause to celebrate.

The drop in temperature has raised everyone’s spirits despite the ongoing threat of drought throughout West Africa.  Because of the poor rainfall vegetation is withering, the economy is in a catastrophic state, animals are dying, the price of basic foodstuffs is soaring (the price of millet has reached an all-time high) and the few vegetables that arrive from Sikasso are either dried out or half rotten.

In the fight against malnutrition, the WFP (World Food Programme) is still experiencing delays in deliveries of enriched flour which is compromising the future of the malnourished children.  Due to this, several families are abandoning the treatment that their children are receiving.

Our orphans are among the lucky ones, full of life and enjoying using the pools of standing water to cool down.  We have to remind the women of the dangers posed by these pools which also attract mosquitos carrying malaria and the fatal illness plasmodium falciparum.

> back

> next

Before and after treatment

Awa and Adama

Hamada 12 months old  4kg

Samaho 6 weeks old  1.7kg