Privilege to Eat

Navigating the Fulani culture of food has been an interesting challenge. When you arrive at someone's house, you are automatically served food. This has proven some challenging moments. Oft-times, I am just not hungry . . . for instance the day of a fête when I visited with my friend and in turn we went to visit five homes - relatives and friends. After six houses in the span of two hours, I had no more room for food, yet I was urged to eat. (I have since found out that one can politely eat a few handfuls of rice and sauce and declare thanks for the food!) In the Fulani culture, no matter how much you eat, you will be told to 'eat, eat!' - for if the host does not insist that you keep eating, the visitor will assume that they have rudely eaten all the food available.

At my friend Aissa's house one day, she served some rice and sauce and I ate a bit - but upon her insistence I eat more, I declared that I had ate before I left the house and was not hungry. She then declared a cultural variation that caught my attention: 'You white people eat by your watch. We Africans are different, if there is food, we eat - no matter what time of day or whether we have just eaten.' I have seen this - my friends can pack away an amazing amount of food! Doing so in one sitting is a sight to see, and yet an hour later, if visiting and offered food, they will eat a full meal again. (While my stomach is full and threatening nausea- or worse - if I pack yet one more iota of food inside). My language tutor clarified further, that one eats when food is available, because you do not know when or if the food will be available again.

This caused me to think . . . . the wealth I have affords me the privilege of eating by the clock - I do not need to eat when food comes, because I know at my house there is food I can cook later when I am hungry.

This year, 2010, the gap of those privileged to eat in Niger - and across the Sahel region of Africa - widens. In 2009, the rains came late and sparse causing crop failure in many regions. Following the harvest, I went to visit my friend Abdoulaye's village, which is 10km North of Niamey. We were going to watch the construction of a new granary.

I asked my friend regarding the harvest and if it had been good enough to need a new granary in order to store the millet stalks. I learned that my friend's village was in the region touched by the drought. No, he replied, his father was building the granary only because the old one has fallen down. In fact, the small pile of millet beside the granary was their harvest - enough food for a month. Recently, in discussions, he has indicated that they are interspersing their grain stock with other food to stretch out the millet. He believes there is enough to last until February or March (typically, they harvest enough to last until July). By rainy season, Abdoulaye says, there will be wide-spread hunger in his village.

Another village associated with my team, is in the green belt of Niger; however, in December a fire raged destroying 10 huts and the granaries of 10 families. In this town too, there will be hunger.

Niger is the least developed country in the world, ranking last out of 182 countries worldwide in terms of overall development according to the 2009 United Nations Human Development Index. Niger’s harsh climate, poverty, drought and desertification have helped to create an undernourished population that cannot feed itself.

As a result, my team began searching for ways in which we could bring aid to those we know. We have submitted proposals and been approved for funding by the Canadian Food Grains Bank. I love the concept of CFGB - grain or money donated is used to purchase food commodities around the world to aid in food crises. Yes - my Saskatchewan farming relatives and the church in Kelstern . . . your grain donations are helping to feed my friends!!

Historically, the food prices rise every year, usually in July as the previous harvest weans - the lean months. However, already in January, our team noticed a significant price jump in the price of 100 kg sacks of millet.

This chart indicates the predicted price of grain would jump to 28,000cfa (~ $70cdn) in week 34 following the harvest (July - August); yet, some merchants were already selling grain at this price mid-January. An indicator that the prices will continue to rise until harvest, as the lean months have already started in regions throughout Niger.

According to USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS) poor households will be hit hard by high food demand from January to March 2010, due to higher than average cereal prices, and that the second quarter of April to June will be even worse. By February 2010, it is anticipated that many poor households in Niger will be labeled “highly food insecure,” causing a worrying nutritional situation as off-season products will be absent from their diets and their subsistence grains become unavailable.

In the next few months - through until the 2010 harvest season - my team will be holding a grain bank in 3 communities (the two aforementioned Fulani villages and a Tuareg community in Niamey). The grain will be purchased now in January and stored for distribution throughout 6-7 months. The price will be a reduced rate based on the purchase price of the grain - a static price which will not change as the market price of grain increases.

Often, a crisis will lead to a ripple effect - the ripple of a food crises in one year affecting the cultivation and harvest of the next. Those who suffer a food shortage are susceptible to illness or energy deficit - both of which affect their ability to work their fields. No field - no harvest, and thus a continuing food crisis into the following year. Those who receive grain aid this year receive the gift of food in the year following the crisis.

Thank you to those who support our team in Niger and thank you to those who donate grain or money to Canadian Food Grains Bank - helping us to ensure that our friends this year have the privilege to eat!

Notes by Chantelle McIver from project proposal