Grain Aid Distribution

As mentioned in my previous post: Privilege to Eat, my team is distributing grain aid in three communities to help in the famine this year. Yesterday, I rolled out the first distribution!! A few weeks ago, 70 sacks of millet arrived at my house - to be stored throughout the next seven months - and every two weeks, I will bring five 100kg sacks of grain to my friend Abdoulaye's village in Kongu.

Kongu is a community 10 km North of Niamey that has been affected by the famine. In a normal harvest year, each field will produce 80 bundles of millet - last year, the fields produced an average of 10-30 bundles of millet. The food these subsistence farmers yield will last until July or August in a normal year - still months before the next harvest; but this year already, their granaries are empty.

In the last few weeks, the villagers gathered representatives of their 60 families to decide how to distribute the grain. They formed a committee of 3 to manage the program: a President, a Treasurer (the chief) and a Secretary (the chief's son). My friend Abdoulaye was quite concerned that I know he did not volunteer to be on the committee, that he was selected. I had no concerns, for it makes sense; as the only adult in this entire village of some 500 people to have attended school, Abdoulaye is the logical choice of secretary!

As a village, they determined who would receive the aid and how to distribute it - they will receive 10 sacks per month. They discussed selecting 10 families per month, opening the sacks and selling the grain by the bowl (most of these people will buy their grain by the bowl in the marketplace). After a few meetings, they arrived at a system that will benefit all 60 families in the village. They have divided their village into 3 groups of 5 representatives each - the representatives will share 1 sack among their larger family. For instance, the chief will receive 1 sack and share it with 3 families - two of his siblings and their families; the head shepherd receives 1 sack and will share it with 4 families. The groups will rotate, as I bring out the grain, until the end of the program - September. Each group of these 5 representatives will receive a sack of grain at a reduced price every six weeks.

Yesterday, I loaded my truck with the first 5 sacks of grain:

and headed off to the chief's hut on the edge of town. From here, the grain was unloaded into the chief's courtyard.

We then headed into the chief's hut to count the money - myself and the three committee members - challenging my skills of counting money in Fulfulde! I then met with all five recipients to ask them a few questions: How many families are sharing this sack of grain? I gave up on trying to determine how many people were benefiting from each sack of grain - it was hard for the representatives to remember how many wives and children each head of the household had under his roof(s). This may be follow-up question when we interview each family later! I also brought out a sketched map of their village area (approximately 20 square kilometres - the huts are scattered over the terrain, each person living in their field) to determine and mark where each of the recipients are living.

The group of first five recipients, and my friend Abdoulaye as a committee member:

After this, everyone headed home with their grain and the privilege to eat! Thank you for your contributions and your prayers.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . . The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.