Toubras Seras is a small village in Northern Senegal, where hunger is spoken of like a presence (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
One in ten people worldwide are undernourished, and as many as 50 million people in 45 countries are on the verge of famine. On World Food Day, Metro.co.uk looks to Senegal to hear from one community living in desperate hunger.
In the UK we think of hunger as an absence; an emptiness in the belly, a lack of sustenance that leaves us wanting. For most of us, it is a temporary state.
Toubras Seras is a small village in Northern Senegal, where hunger is spoken of like a presence. A malevolent force that drags the children from their education and pushes good people to anger and violence. An invisible enemy that kills young and old.
Here, malnutrition runs rife. In Toubras Seras, families live off rice, oil and groundnuts. Cowpeas, which used to sustain the community, can no longer be grown due to drought. And millet, which is mixed with milk and sugar to make a rich and wholesome porridge, is in scarce supply.
Babies born from malnourished mothers cry with hunger. Older children are too tired and listless to go out and play with their friends.
Those that do find energy run to the nearby rubbish dump where they scavenge for recyclables that they can sell for pennies. With their proceeds, they buy food.
It’s a desperate situation. Africa is currently experiencing the worst drought in 40 years, and more than 100 million are facing an unprecedented hunger crisis.
Fatimata Sow looks after her tragically malnourished grandson (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
Imam and community leader Mamadou Loum with some of the children of Toubras Seras (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
In Senegal, nearly half of the population lives in poverty. Across the country, 9% of people are acutely malnourished and 18% are stunted.
In a bid to show the world how the crisis has taken hold, ten members of the Toubras Seras community have made a video with the help of charity Action Against Hunger and funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The film shows Fatimata Sow, 47, looking over her tiny grandson who lies beneath a mosquito net, unmoving. ‘He is malnourished’, she says.
‘My grandson was too small at birth because his mother did not have good food and vitamins during her pregnancy. Mothers need to have good food to prevent children from being born malnourished.’
Hunger and malnutrition provide constant threats to the success of child education (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
The children of Toubras Seras show signs of hunger all over their body. Their skin is dry and flaky, their eyes hollowed out and they are exhausted, unmotivated and unable to play.
Those that have the energy go to school frequently faint during classes and have to be rushed to the local clinic for help.
Aissatou Mballo looks after the health centre in the village. Th 33-year-old works as a community ‘relay’; helping children to gain weight, screening malnourished children, raising awareness among mothers, and guiding families to treat malnourished children through cookery demonstrations.
33-year-old Aissatou Mballo looks after the health centre in the village, and tries to help malnourished children to gain weight (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
In the video, she is seen holding a tiny child on her lap who grizzles and fusses. The baby has lost all her hair due to hunger, and has suffered from dangerously high blood pressure.
She is one of a number of children taken to the clinic for vitamins, medicines and vaccinations. There are two types of cereal powders that are given to the youngsters, depending on whether they have mild or severe malnutrition. At the time of filming, the latter was out of stock.
Imam and community leader Mamadou Loum says: ‘Hunger is common here and severe. If you look at these children, you will see they need help. Their education level is down.’
Mamadou wants the village’s two schools to have canteens, to keep the children hydrated and nourished and able to learn.
Children pick up disease and illness while working on huge rubbish dumps says community leader Mamadou Loum (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
‘Water is lacking,’ he explains. ‘Canteens could provide breakfast to enable the children to concentrate. But they’re so hungry, they end up running away from school.
‘The parents want to have a canteen for their children, but we don’t have the money. We need organisations to help us keep them in school. We have the manpower to build the canteen and for cooking the food for the children, but we don’t have the money.’
The town is also plagued by flies from a nearby rubbish dump, which distracts pupils from their schooling and spreads diseases. The dump, which was built on sand, is dangerous in itself; four people have lost their lives recently in collapses.
‘All the rubbish from Louga town is dumped here on our doorstep. Next to our houses, next to the school,’ says Mamadou. ‘And there is a link between this issue and malnutrition. The children come here to collect materials to be recycled, which they can sell in the village to buy food.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Children picking through the rubbish take home microbes that assault their families’ already diminished immune systems. A few under-educated and desperate mothers do the same.
Khaya Diop, 44, president of the Integrated Community Watch and Alert Committee, describes how a lack of food is decimating the village: ‘It can destroy a country. The consequences of hunger and malnutrition include bad health and children abandoning their education.
‘It badly affects the economy. People become violent because they are hungry. Many children have left school because of it.
‘Some people have even died. Hunger attacks the children and kills them, right here in our community.’
How we can help nutrition problems like those in Senegal
Alexandra Rutishauser-Perera, Head of Nutrition at Action Against Hunger UK, says: ‘We are living in a time when 828 million people are going to bed hungry every night, whilst some countries are on the brink of famine.
‘Increased conflict, climate change and the global economic crisis are compounding the cycle of hunger and adding to gender inequalities and poverty, but needs still go largely unheard, unseen and unanswered by key decision makers.
Malnutrition increases risk of infections, affects mental health of children and their families, reduces chances to do well later in life and ultimately leads to a higher risk of deaths. For example, half of the children under 5 who die every year would still be alive if they had been well-nourished.
We need to invest in preventive and anticipatory action with communities, including strengthening health, water and food systems, developing community climate change resilience, and education around malnutrition. Communities often know what they need to eliminate hunger, they need us to give them a voice and be the catalyst of those local solutions.’
Khaya is a neighbourhood counsellor and community supporter, helping with the care of malnourished children and conducting vaccination campaigns in Toubras Seras. She says: ‘There are many cases of aggression here. People assault because of lack of means.’
Repeated seasons of failed rainfall means the traditional foods simply cannot grow, while land that used to be cultivated for crops has been built on.
The recent closure of the town’s only train line and the lack of infrastructure and local business has led to unemployment and a lack of opportunity.
Khaya Diop is working on vaccination campaigns in Toubras Seras (Picture: Fotosynthesis for Action Against Hunger)
That’s why the community is asking for help. They want to cultivate micro-gardens; raised beds which will allow them to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs and spices and which require less soil and water than traditional gardens. They want to grow fruit trees and rear animals.
‘Children need fruit and vegetables. We need to have micro-gardens so we can grow all the vegetables we need to feed the family, particularly the children,’ explains retired civil servant and respected elder Samba Ndiaye, 73.
‘The women here work very hard at everything they do. If an organisation can help them with materials, fertilisers, seeds to start a garden, they will be independent and autonomous gardeners.’
Young mother Aissatou Diallo adds: ‘My husband and I are doing all we can to feed our children. But we need help to fight against hunger. This is killing many children. We just need some more help.’
If you would like to make a donation to help the people of Toubras Seras and Senegal click here.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
Share your views in the comments below.
MORE : Inside the African clinic fighting to keep babies alive in the face of starvation
MORE : Extreme drought exposes sunken ships, lost villages and ‘hunger stones’ across Europe
MORE : Russia’s ‘despicable blockade’ of Ukraine’s ports fuelling world hunger
On World Food Day, we examine the impact on a country plagued by malnutrition.