Without a doubt they’re more than a thousand strong today, waiting in throngs in front of the MSF ambulatory centre in Tunto. Hard rain beats down on the crowd. The children, who for the most part are barefoot, shiver in the cold.
An Ethiopian child waits amongst the crowd at MSF's feeding centre in Tunto, Ethiopia. July 2008.
Photo by MSF
In front of a sea of umbrellas that runs dozens of metres long, David, a Brazilian doctor, and Martha, a Danish nurse, hurriedly identify the children that meet the program’s criteria. “We’re doing what we call a rapid screening”, explains David, between two children. “We identify those who are severely and moderately malnourished by measuring the height of a child and the perimeter of their arm with an MUAC
(mid-upper arms circumference) bracelet. We’ve already admitted more than 100 patients this morning but a lot of them don’t meet the admission criteria and don’t understand why they’ll receive nothing when they have nothing.”
The Tunto ambulatory centre, built in the undergrowth in a remote corner of the SNNP (Southern Nation and Nationalities Peoples) region, has already been treating patients suffering from acute severe malnutrition for several weeks. But since yesterday, the MSF program has also been open to children with moderate malnutrition who receive CSB rations (a blend of corn and soya), sugar and oil.
The launch of this “supplementary nutritional program”- which extends MSF assistance to the moderately malnourished, brings some hope to the many inhabitants of Tunto, which is the case with Zamane. Two days ago this young woman lost her son to severe malnutrition. Today she comes brandishing her two-and-a-half year old in the hope of leaving with several bags of food. “We’re hungry”, she exclaims. “My husband is a grower, he cultivates corn and ginger. The corn is for our family’s consumption and we sell the ginger at the market to raise funds for more corn. But this year, the price of ginger is very low while the price of corn is out of reach. On top of that, we’ve been experiencing a drought. It hasn’t rained for several months and we’ve had a bad harvest.” The first rains of the year, on which the small producers in southern Ethiopia depend, have been too little too late.
Further along, in the section reserved for the severely malnourished, Elfnesh, who is 4 years old, waits patiently in the arms of her mother for her daily ration of therapeutic food. “My husband married another woman and left me alone with our seven children,” confided Tagesech, the little girl’s mother. “We’ve had no food at the house and I haven’t received any food aid. Sometimes family members help us with a bit of food or we cultivate ensete and coffee on a little strip of land, but it just isn’t enough”.
Another worrying sign is the rising number of adults admitted to the program. Among them is Tadwos, a man who looks much older than his 40 years due to severe malnutrition. Without a doubt, he’s been depriving himself of food in order to feed his wife and six children. For three weeks he’s been receiving therapeutic food in sachets as well as a ration of corn, soya and oil. “Without these rations I’d have nothing to eat. Before we could buy food at the market but the prices have risen too much. Two times I received 50kg of food aid from the government but you know, it’s not enough for a family as big as mine. I hope that with the help of God, future harvests will be better and my life will improve.”
For Tadwos, Tagesech, Zamane, their children and many others, the rains that are pelting down today and irrigating the fields won’t help; the next harvest of corn isn’t expected for another few weeks. Until then, they will continue to depend on outside help - and many will jostle to make it to the front of the line at the MSF centre.