September 22, 2005

CHICAGO – 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.

ELCA News Service