Voices from the field

This morning we returned to Aliyu Amba and I met a young woman, Kebebush Shifera, who cradled her son Mengistu while she spoke. Like many others, Mengistu’s family is struggling to feed themselves. Mengistu himself is tiny, and looks much younger than his four years.

It is heartbreaking to hear the despair in people’s voices. Those who would ordinarily have sold their cattle, goats or sheep to survive a crop failure are unable to do so as their animals have perished in the drought. Beleyu Mulugeta, a mother of 10, captured the feeling of helplessness: “we don’t have any option but just wait.”

The situation here is desperate. People are on the brink of survival and their only hope right now is support from the government or from NGOs like ActionAid.

Later in the day we visited several ActionAid funded income-generation projects. These projects enable people to survive the food price increases that go hand-in-hand with drought and crop failure.

As you might imagine, in Ankober district there is very little paid employment as the majority of people live hand to mouth. Ferehiwot Ayele, aged 20, is one of 10 members of the Hope Income Generation Association. She says: “without this project we don’t have any option, we just sit with our families and wait for them [the government and humanitarian agencies] to feed us.” The association has provided Ferehiwot, and other young people, with an opportunity to break out of poverty – and it is an opportunity she has grasped with enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm was also in abundance when we met Senait Kaseye, aged 35, the chairperson of the Gorbela Eskedar Sheep Fattening and Marketing Cooperative Association. Senait is a vibrant woman with a big laugh and she spoke with great gusto about the success of the association.

Like Ferehiwot, Senait is convinced that without the support provided by ActionAid she would now be struggling to feed her family.

Today has been both heartrending and heart-warming. I only hope that the people I met this morning will receive food aid before it is too late; and that in the future they, like Ferehiwot and Senait, will have the opportunity to safeguard themselves and their families in times of drought.

Sarah Robinson reports back on Day 2 of her visit to Ethiopia as part of ActionAid's emergency response team.

Today we drove 150km along the pothole-ridden road to the highlands of Ankober, where we met with Birkneh and Tesefaye from ActionAid’s partner organisation, PADET (Professional Alliance for Development in Ethiopia).

From there we travelled to Aliyu Amba (one of the kebeles, smallest unit of adminstration in the lowlands), where the government was distributing grain. At the distribution site people facing food shortages waited patiently in groups for their allocation. We were able to speak with three of the people waiting to receive grain.

Belayneh Fiseha is a softly spoken man who sat for most of our interview with his head held up in his hand. His cheekbones were prominent and his eyes were sad. He told me that he had nine family members to support and that he didn’t know what to do. His crops didn’t grow because of the lack of rain, and his oxen, goats and sheep died in the drought. His parting words were “don’t forget about us”.

Etaferahu Yilma told me of her lack of hope. Her wizened face looked much older than her 49 years and she clasped my hand after we had spoken and told me that the grain she was given today would only last a week. She said if support is to come it must come quickly “before we die”.

Merima Muhammed Siraj is only 26 years old. She left her work in the town to come back and look after elderly relatives who could not cope with the food shortage. She spoke of her desperation – she cannot provide for her family on her own.

I cannot describe how moved I was by hearing these stories. The urgency of need is so clear – these people are running out of food and running out of time.

As part of our emergency team, ActionAid’s Sarah Robinson is on a two week visit to our project areas in Ankober, Kembolcha and Doba in Ethiopia to see how we are responding to the current drought emergency. Here, she recounts her experiences first-hand.

The sun was shining when I flew into Addis. The countryside surrounding the capital city is a patchwork of brown and green fields, dotted with neatly demarcated homesteads. Addis itself is like any other bustling major city: crazy taxi drivers, beeping horns and busy people.

All of this is a far cry from the realities of life in rural Ethiopia. After two poor rainy seasons in some parts of the country over 4.6 million people are facing shortage of food that needs the support of government or humanitarian aid.

Tomorrow we will be setting off at 7am to visit one of the drought affected areas - Ankober. ‘We’ consists of: Markos the driver, who has worked for ActionAid for 14 years, and Zenebe, the communications officer.

Once we reach Ankober we will be staying the nights in Debrebirihan, 50 km away. We will be travelling in during the day to visit ActionAid projects which are helping the most vulnerable people. I can’t help but feel guilty that we can just drive away from the situation at the end of the day, but I’m looking forward to seeing the positive impact of our work.

ActionAid’s Emergencies Advisor for Asia, Paras Tamang recounts a recent trip to cyclone-affected areas in Myanmar.

Last week I visited the Bogolay township with a team of ActionAid staff and representatives from one of our local partner organisations Myanmar Development Forum (MDF). On the hour long boat ride through the Ayerawaddy delta to None Chuang village, I was struck by how vulnerable the communities are to flooding and other disasters.

Most of the villages are located very close to the rivers and waterways and are really exposed to rising water levels. It was sad to learn that in None Chuange village alone a total of 42 people, including 15 children, were killed in the cyclone. ActionAid and its local partners have been working in this and similar villages providing those affected with essential relief supplies such as shelter, food and seed for farmers.

It was great to see that, in many villages in this area, people have begun rebuilding their houses using the materials provided by aid agencies like ActionAid and debris from the disaster. In most cases the temporary shelter materials are sourced locally, which benefits the local economy. Villagers told me that they were generally happy with the amount of food, seeds, shelter and other supplies that they had received, although some commented that the seeds were poor quality We made a note to work with our local partners to source better quality seed so that people can grow high quality crops.

Villagers told me that more women than men died in the cyclone because they were less physically able to save themselves when the flood waters came. This is fairly common in disasters, as women are less strong and also often choose to save their children and possessions before thinking about their own safety. ActionAid is working with local communities to increase women’s preparedness to future disasters.

People also told me that a lack of access to information through TV and radio meant they did not have enough time to prepare for the cyclone. This highlights the huge importance of promoting disaster preparedness schemes in these areas to make people aware of the risks they face and what to do in the event of another cyclone or flood.

I spoke to a number of villagers during the trip, and the main point they made was that they really want their lives to return to normal. More than anything they want to be able to make a living again to support themselves and their families. ActionAid is working to help villagers revive their means of earning an income so they do not become dependent on aid in the long term.

I was really pleased with the progress that I saw on my field visit. I was amazed by the resilience of the people whose lives have been shattered by the cyclone but who still have hope for the future.

However, the effects of the cyclone will last for a long time after the physical damage is repaired. Many people told me how they were suffering from nightmares and were scared of changes in the weather that might indicate another cyclone, even three months on from the disaster.

As people work to resume their normal lives it will be important that they are able express their feelings about the cyclone, particularly in cases where they lost loved ones as well as their homes and belongings. By providing trauma counseling to people affected by the cyclone, ActionAid is helping people work through those difficult feelings.

Saw Lin Htet is working on the relief effort in Myanmar (Burma). Here, in his own words, he recounts a visit to an affected area.

Our assessment team went to the lower part of the Laputta Township.

There are a lot of dead bodies on the way which included pregnant women, men, and children along the rivers. A lot of dead bodies were floating, masses of dead bodies stuck in trees, shrubs, and plants.

I could not believe my eyes that the areas are full of dead bodies and dead animals. Everything is quiet apart from our motor boat.

I was shocked and my throat dried and I could not swallow my saliva. Many animals including water buffaloes, cows, bulls, goats, pigs were rotting and produce a lot of terrible smell on the way to the area.

Some animals were waiting for their lives to end although they were still alive. On the other hand, there was no sweet water resource for the animals which survive.

I saw nothing left apart from damaged houses, huts and rice sacks. One or two temporary huts had been built with damaged material.

A villager ran to us with many hopes when our motor boat approached to their villages, they were really weak but they struggle to give smile to us. They are staying with temporary huts and dead bodies are near them.

We talked and delivered two sacks of rice and some medicine. Wounded persons came to us and Naw Paw Paw Htoo (a colleague) gave treatment the wounded as know as she could.

We made one stupid thing that we could not bring the sweet water for them when they came to us with the water bucket because they haven’t drink sweet water for two and half days, they only survived with coconut juice and salty water.

We apologised to them for our weaknesses but they said that they are very blessed because we came to them and give them hope. We encouraged and discussed about their plans according to their emergency needs. We covered about four villages in that area.

Note: The villagers immediately need emergency water, food, medicine, and shelter. On the other hand, if we could provide water pump, they said they could manage water source by them.

Cyclone survivor Teddy Din, who is the ex director of ActionAid partner ADRA Myanmar, spoke to the ActionAid programme coordinator for Myanmar, Shihab Uddin, about his experience.

To survive, Teddy said they ate and drank coconut juice, as at most places there is no drinking water. They also found some rice and shared it around and ate fresh flesh from dead animals (cows, buffalos), but now they can’t eat them anymore.

Teddy buried 22 people near a Baptist church, where people were searching refuge, but the church collapsed on top of them.

Teddy was brought to safety in Yangon by field staff after the survivors were given food, water and clothing.