0:28
Almost 20 years ago the world was watching pictures like these. In that catastrophic famine in Ethiopia, one million people died. Now, famine is gripping the country again. In this hospital in Awassa in southern Ethiopia funded by Caritas Austria, doctor and nun Isabel Arbide is trying her best to reduce the death toll. But some children don’t make it.
0:51
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
(in English)
“If the child doesn’t die now he will recover.”
1:04 (she continues)
“This is a disaster situation.”
1:12
The children are fed a special nutritional formula financed by UNICEF. After four weeks on the programme, severely malnourished children are usually back on their feet again. The failure of the rains this April has led to drought, a lost harvest and malnutrition. The youngest are the hardest hit.
1:27
Every three hours over four days the children most at risk are fed this special preparation until they’re out of danger. Then, they stay for almost a month at the therapeutic feeding station. Almost two percent of the three million children in the Duerre region are severely undernourished. The last great hunger was three years ago, caused like this year, when the rains failed.
1:57
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
(English)
“I promised to God and everyone around in the 1984/85 famine that this would never happen again. But this time I was working here and I didn’t know they’d be starving. The hungry are treated in our clinic. Now, we have no other choice.”
2:22
Her son didn’t make it. His mother had taken him to another centre before he came to sister Isabel’s clinic.
2:37
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
“The child has severe pneumonia and respiratory stress. We did an X-ray and examinations but the child died. It was simply too late.”
2:52
O-sound
Mohammed Foh
UNICEF
“A huge number of people are already dependent on food relief. And, when you look at the relief trucks it’s either not enough for the population which is continuing to increase or that the strategy put in place to target distribution is not well organised.”
3:16
12.5 million Ethiopians are dependent on western food aid for their survival. Aid development funding has been diverted to funding food relief operations instead of towards development projects. One third of the 325 registered relief organisations in the country are putting their efforts into distributing food – inevitably making the population dependent.
3:43
Often the grain ends up being sold at a spot price on the market. No farmer can compete with that. It’s the government that profits. Since 1984, the 14 million tonnes of imported grain has been taken to the villages by transport firms owned by the ruling party’s faithful.
4:10
Every month, Suya Walana gets 60 kilos of wheat – 12.5 kilos per family member. Without food aid her family can’t survive. Even so, her son died two months ago. Both these women are alone and fending for their children. In the regions of Amhara, Oromiya and Somali over nine million people are hit by acute famine. The last harvest in many of the villages was a total failure.
4:46
O-sound
Suya Walana
“The rains haven’t come. I haven’t seen anything – not even a drop. Without help we would die.”
4:56
One of the most prominent government critics blames the misery of the population on the government. He was imprisoned for his outspoken views.
5:05
O-sound
Berhanu Nega
Economist and civil rights activist
(in English)
“Families are so subsistence in this country. You must know that roughly 68 per cent of the farmers have one hectare or less. So the ability of the farmers to support their families beyond one period is seriously challenged. With bad weather, or drought the whole family is hungry and waiting for food aid.”
5:38
Even the coffee plantations have been severely hit. During the Mengistu dictatorial regime every villager over 20 years of age was given 2.5 hectares to cultivate. But the government continued to own the land. There was no private investment and farmers had no incentive to pursue their own initiatives. Coffee exports from Ethiopia have fallen by 30 per cent within a year leaving almost a third of the population facing ruin, according to the British relief agency OXFAM.
6:13
Bushura Merid is one of those affected. A half Birr, around 5 cents a kilo for his unshelled coffee beans. Before he got a much higher price. But, even then he lived on the poverty line. Merid’s family understands nothing about the so-called Fair Trade Coffee or gene-manipulated coffee offered on the world market. Like many other farmers, he’s got nothing to sell now except his labour. Every fourth Ethiopian lives from coffee.
6:55
O-sound
Bushura Merid
Coffee farmer
“Before, I used to be able to buy clothes for my family twice a year, but I can’t do that anymore. The money goes for the lamp light, school things – on everything. That’s a big problem in my life.”
7:10
At the market, whatever tiny amounts not needed for their own survival are sold. The grain distributed as food relief can’t be used as seed. The government wants the farmers to buy good seed and fertiliser on credit but that only pushes them further into debt. 85 per cent of the population lives off the land but what they can harvest from it is becoming less and less.
7:46 in off
7:50 in On
O-sound
Berhanu Nega
Economist and civil rights activist
(in English)
“Ethiopian society has been repressed for so long. For the first time in its history people are leaving and there’s a significant out migration. Educated people are leaving the country. In the post Mengistu regime there was some improvement but there’s such deep rooted hopelessness, where people no longer believe in their capacity to improve their own lives. That is not yet solved.”
8:13
It’s a vicious circle with almost no way out. The population increase is very high and an average family has 10 children. This child is four years old – but he weighs in at only 5.5 kilos.
8:35
In this camp, six children have died in the last two weeks. For them it’s too late. Despite the deceptive greenness of this area just five hours from the capital Addis Abbaba, there’s famine and malaria. Only the babies that are quiet are well nourished. These are the ones getting vitamin and mineral supplements in their food. They no longer fear death.
ends
Almost 20 years ago the world was watching pictures like these. In that catastrophic famine in Ethiopia, one million people died. Now, famine is gripping the country again. In this hospital in Awassa in southern Ethiopia funded by Caritas Austria, doctor and nun Isabel Arbide is trying her best to reduce the death toll. But some children don’t make it.
0:51
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
(in English)
“If the child doesn’t die now he will recover.”
1:04 (she continues)
“This is a disaster situation.”
1:12
The children are fed a special nutritional formula financed by UNICEF. After four weeks on the programme, severely malnourished children are usually back on their feet again. The failure of the rains this April has led to drought, a lost harvest and malnutrition. The youngest are the hardest hit.
1:27
Every three hours over four days the children most at risk are fed this special preparation until they’re out of danger. Then, they stay for almost a month at the therapeutic feeding station. Almost two percent of the three million children in the Duerre region are severely undernourished. The last great hunger was three years ago, caused like this year, when the rains failed.
1:57
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
(English)
“I promised to God and everyone around in the 1984/85 famine that this would never happen again. But this time I was working here and I didn’t know they’d be starving. The hungry are treated in our clinic. Now, we have no other choice.”
2:22
Her son didn’t make it. His mother had taken him to another centre before he came to sister Isabel’s clinic.
2:37
O-sound
Isabel Arbide
Doctor and nun
“The child has severe pneumonia and respiratory stress. We did an X-ray and examinations but the child died. It was simply too late.”
2:52
O-sound
Mohammed Foh
UNICEF
“A huge number of people are already dependent on food relief. And, when you look at the relief trucks it’s either not enough for the population which is continuing to increase or that the strategy put in place to target distribution is not well organised.”
3:16
12.5 million Ethiopians are dependent on western food aid for their survival. Aid development funding has been diverted to funding food relief operations instead of towards development projects. One third of the 325 registered relief organisations in the country are putting their efforts into distributing food – inevitably making the population dependent.
3:43
Often the grain ends up being sold at a spot price on the market. No farmer can compete with that. It’s the government that profits. Since 1984, the 14 million tonnes of imported grain has been taken to the villages by transport firms owned by the ruling party’s faithful.
4:10
Every month, Suya Walana gets 60 kilos of wheat – 12.5 kilos per family member. Without food aid her family can’t survive. Even so, her son died two months ago. Both these women are alone and fending for their children. In the regions of Amhara, Oromiya and Somali over nine million people are hit by acute famine. The last harvest in many of the villages was a total failure.
4:46
O-sound
Suya Walana
“The rains haven’t come. I haven’t seen anything – not even a drop. Without help we would die.”
4:56
One of the most prominent government critics blames the misery of the population on the government. He was imprisoned for his outspoken views.
5:05
O-sound
Berhanu Nega
Economist and civil rights activist
(in English)
“Families are so subsistence in this country. You must know that roughly 68 per cent of the farmers have one hectare or less. So the ability of the farmers to support their families beyond one period is seriously challenged. With bad weather, or drought the whole family is hungry and waiting for food aid.”
5:38
Even the coffee plantations have been severely hit. During the Mengistu dictatorial regime every villager over 20 years of age was given 2.5 hectares to cultivate. But the government continued to own the land. There was no private investment and farmers had no incentive to pursue their own initiatives. Coffee exports from Ethiopia have fallen by 30 per cent within a year leaving almost a third of the population facing ruin, according to the British relief agency OXFAM.
6:13
Bushura Merid is one of those affected. A half Birr, around 5 cents a kilo for his unshelled coffee beans. Before he got a much higher price. But, even then he lived on the poverty line. Merid’s family understands nothing about the so-called Fair Trade Coffee or gene-manipulated coffee offered on the world market. Like many other farmers, he’s got nothing to sell now except his labour. Every fourth Ethiopian lives from coffee.
6:55
O-sound
Bushura Merid
Coffee farmer
“Before, I used to be able to buy clothes for my family twice a year, but I can’t do that anymore. The money goes for the lamp light, school things – on everything. That’s a big problem in my life.”
7:10
At the market, whatever tiny amounts not needed for their own survival are sold. The grain distributed as food relief can’t be used as seed. The government wants the farmers to buy good seed and fertiliser on credit but that only pushes them further into debt. 85 per cent of the population lives off the land but what they can harvest from it is becoming less and less.
7:46 in off
7:50 in On
O-sound
Berhanu Nega
Economist and civil rights activist
(in English)
“Ethiopian society has been repressed for so long. For the first time in its history people are leaving and there’s a significant out migration. Educated people are leaving the country. In the post Mengistu regime there was some improvement but there’s such deep rooted hopelessness, where people no longer believe in their capacity to improve their own lives. That is not yet solved.”
8:13
It’s a vicious circle with almost no way out. The population increase is very high and an average family has 10 children. This child is four years old – but he weighs in at only 5.5 kilos.
8:35
In this camp, six children have died in the last two weeks. For them it’s too late. Despite the deceptive greenness of this area just five hours from the capital Addis Abbaba, there’s famine and malaria. Only the babies that are quiet are well nourished. These are the ones getting vitamin and mineral supplements in their food. They no longer fear death.
ends