Security

In the last three weeks I've been in Niger one of the words that I've heard the most often is security.  We talk often about personal security, political security, and food security.  Although Niger itself is stable as a country, some of our neighbors, Mali and Nigeria, are not.  And as Niger experiences the brunt of the Sahel famine, it is quite food insecure.  I've been calling Niger "ground zero" for malnutrition as it also has one of the worst rates of malnutrition in the world right now.  In the last two weeks I've seen more children who are malnourished then in the four years I was in Cameroon.  This past Thursday I went to village where Samaritan's Purse was distributing millet, rice, and oil to the most food insecure households.

Distribution of millet

    
After I saw the food distribution, I went with the president of the local women's group to visit her farm, where she planted moringa trees with seeds given by Samaritan's Purse.  She was using the leaves to supplement her family's diet and this was very encouraging as the leaves are very rich in vitamin A, C, iron, and calcium.

Daughter of the women's group president holding a moringa leaf

Because Niger is one of the "hot spots" for international aid right now, its been quite interesting to see and learn about which international NGOs are here and what they are doing.  We stopped at a health center for me to see it and learn about their needs.  At the same time Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was at the health center doing a immunization clinic and measuring mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) to because there had been a measles outbreak in the area.

A MSF worker measuring MUAC to determine nutritional status

Next we visited a women's group and asked them questions about the health of their children, the common foods, their breastfeeding practices.  Shortly after I asked about breastfeeding a grandmother told me about her grandson who was born 4 weeks ago, yet only weighs 2 kilograms.  She brought me this boy to examine.

Our next stop was the refugee camp for the people who escaped from Mali.  MSF was also there providing medical care for all of the people there.  During the tour I saw a mother who had just given birth to a boy a few hours earlier.  I wondered what was going through her mind--if she hoped to be able to return home and raise her son in her own land.

The MSF clinic

One of the tents for the Malian people

As I learn and see more about the harsh realities Nigeriens face living in an insecure place I find it quite overwhelming at times.  A week ago I was talking with the country director about malnutrition here and why it is the way it is.  He told me that instead of asking why, the question is what.  What do I do?  What can I do?  Watching a mother watch her child struggle for breath because he is so malnourished breaks my heart.  No mother should EVER have to bury her child for something that is completely preventable.   How to best treat AND prevent is the ongoing question in this insecure place.

In particular, the way of the desert teaches us how to pray: how to stand before God, how to speak to God, and above all how to keep silent before God.  It reminds us that God is born in barrenness, where there is an absence of pride, of masks, of illusions and of false images.  Paradoxically, God fulfills in emptiness.  God appears when we are not filled with other attachments and distractions, when we are not full of ourselves.

John Chryssanvgis, In the Heart of the Desert