She became the face of famine, yet no one knew her name. Birhan Weldu’s emaciated face became the despairing image of Ethiopia in 1984 and was beamed to TV screens all over the world. Now Birhan, who miraculously survived the 1984 disaster that claimed the lives of one million Ethiopians, has become a symbol of hope for her country. Birhan is in her first year of agricultural college.
Key institutions now play an integral role in aid effectiveness, which was lacking 20 years ago. One of the best organisations set up during that time period, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), keeps track of crucial food reserves and serves as the government’s emergency and relief arm.
The government also has crucial food reserves in place, which now can hold up to 400 000 tonnes. Early warning systems at the local level feed into a national database that means officials maintain an accurate picture of the food status in the country. The government has already launched the much-heralded $3,2-billion, five-year New Coalition for Food Security strategy that aims to end hunger for up to 15-million people.
Within the coalition there is a new approach to using food aid to boost development by encouraging people to work rather than just rely on handouts. Called productive safety nets, the government plans to launch the scheme for five million people in January. Tigray, the northern province of Ethiopia that was the epicentre of the 1984 famine and was, at that time, ravaged by a civil war, is home to Birhan. A quarter of its 4-million people still need food aid to survive.
Birhan fears that without real help the dependency and quick fix solutions will continue. “I pray this never happens again and I am thankful for all the help we have received,” Birhan said from the stone house she shares with her father, stepmother, and six brothers and sisters. “But what we need is schools to educate ourselves, dams for farmers so they are not dependent on the rains. We need health centres and industries for people to have jobs. We need to be able to stand on our own and not always be reliant on aid.”
AEVIA Reveals the Source