Everyone is suffering here in Niger, and when things become so difficult, the children of the nation will no doubt suffer even more. So what then of those have been orphaned and do not have the loving comfort of a parent who can sometimes work those miracles and keep a child calm in the midst of starvation and catastrophe?
Hence the vital work that Islamic Relief does with its Orphan Sponsorship programme is not only to be celebrated but also to be recognized by us all to be a priority in such a country. Please help and support this noble cause for which there is no other reward except Paradise with the very best of them all – Sayyidina Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
In the most difficult circumstances you get to meet the most incredible characters – walking, talking models of inspiration. And how often do we find the case that when the going gets tough, the women get going.
Sister Maariyatou – or Super Maariya as I named her – was a truly wonderful woman masha’Allah. She is the sole nutritionist and thus by extension the only “doctor” who looks after the centre for moderately malnourished children in the middle of the desert a few hours from the capital Niamey.
She lives on-site so that she can give 24 hrs care, she raises her own child by herself, has left her husband in the capital because he cannot join her where she is and quite simply has taken it upon herself to do everything humanly possible to help her people, even when it comes to sharing from her own meagre resources when the centre struggles for supplies.
We went to see her work again and also asked her to help us find the nomadic destitute family that we met on Day 1, which was an impossible ask in reality except that we found out later that Sister Maariyatou had gifted the nomad woman a dress in order to develop a relationship and encourage her to bring her sick daughter Medina back for further care. Clearly she suspected that Medina would not be brought back due to the immense poverty of the family and so she was working all the angles. And it was that very angle of the dress that helped us find her in the middle of nowhere.
In any case, the video gives a bit more detail and needless to say it was a very shocking discussion we had with the family and about their decision to risk their baby girl’s life against providing for food security for at least a few days for the entire family.
Today was all about water and the change it can bring to peoples’ lives. Because we take clean and readily available water for granted, it is sometimes difficult to imagine just how a lack of clean water can have such a devastating an impact upon a people – and then when you consider the dry, arid conditions, a drought can lead to catastrophe.
Today we visited a village called Cestcomeh in the distrist of Tera, to the west of the capital Niamey. This used to be a small village which Islamic Relief originally built a well for post the 2005 famine here. The village grew rapidly in size due to the fact that there is very little access to any wells in this area and people will always follow the water where they can get it. Thus the decision was made to convert the existing well into what is called locally here as a “semi-water system” for this now 2,500 strong community. Basically, this involves drilling a much larger well, putting in a heavy duty pump which is powered by a large solar panel and then having the water drawn up into a large tank and then distributed to five key watering points in the village with taps so that the villagers can go to their nearest tap and receive clean water with ease.
The change it has brought in the mood and outlook for these people is incredible. The people are happy because they can self-irrigate their crops throughout the year, their animals can drink and eat and thus are healthy to work and attractive to sell. The people are healthier and thus there is less sickness. Also, the water attracts trade which increases the will of the people to create their own businesses and work hard. It really is all win-win.
All in all, a very positive day and one that showed how important such water systems can be to the many communities here in Niger. At £70000 for each system, we certainly need to install a number of them this Ramadhan insha’Allah with your generosity, barakallahu feekum.
Everyone started in high spirits today with the rain last night bringing a smile to most peoples’ faces – its effect on the surrounding dry and parched backdrop is very visible to the eye with the soil taking on that beautiful dark brown look of being freshly watered and ready for sowing grain or giving that needed impetus to crops sown just a few days ago. And with the rainwater aggregating in certain areas into large watering holes, despite it being dirty muddy water which both the animals and villagers use, you would struggle to notice any disappointment on the face of the Nigeriens as they come out to wash their clothes and take out their buckets to bring water back to their homes.
We visited a health centre in the town of Tilaberri not far from the Niger Delta which specialises in treating severely malnourished children – Islamic Relief play a large role in providing the training, resources and logistics for this centre and are currently in the process of extending both wings of the building to hopefully insha’Allah allow for more treatment rooms. And those extra treatment rooms will be vital after the horrific things we saw today.
I quite simply couldn’t include the full pictures on the short video blog I recorded today because it would have been too shocking, perhaps vulgar some might say. We’ve all read about the ethics behind such situations and balancing the need to educate people about a certain reality versus the fact that basically people aren’t ready to see ribs popping out of a child’s chest or being in such a lethargic state that the child could not roll his eyes and thus they were almost suspended upwards showing just a bright white where his eyes are. It was utterly depressing to see such a sight, and then even more so when we realised that there was a waiting room full of further children with their mothers waiting to receive that very same delicate emergency treatment which can take up the emergency room for hours at a time whilst the rest wait on the floor for up to a few days in come cases. It was truly awful to behold.
One thing that was heartening to see was the positive attitude of the staff and parents as they deal with these problems and just keep working on in a disciplined and effective fashion. If these people were to go to pieces like we were, no work would get done. The need for logistical support for the healthcare workers is vital to ensure these operations continue efficiently and save the maximum amount of lives.
From our point of view we can do so much – looking at it from a unit cost point of view, it takes a total of £240 for the year to look after one child, and as this centre treats over 3000 children each year, it is good to know that a number of agencies are involved in covering the costs for the centre to function. Islamic Relief need £30000 for this centre and much more to be able to establish further centres to avoid mothers having to walk for an entire day to actually get the emergency treatment they need. That is a sum that many individuals in our communities completely taken upon themselves.
I imagine many of you will be feeling guilty at seeing and hearing these things, especially as you look at the quality and quantity of your food and then see the state of these starving children. That guilt needs to be assuaged in a controlled fashion. It’s not about you now cutting out your meals and trying to empathise in this way for that’s what the month of Ramadhan is supposed to do – rather what is an obligation upon you is to continue to live and enjoy the blessings that Allah jalla wa ‘ala has blessed you with in a halal way but not to exceed the boundaries of the Sunnah in eating as well thanking Him for every bite and sip that you take as narrated in Sahih Muslim, “Of a surety Allah is pleased with His slave when he swallows a morsel and praises Him for that, or takes a sip and then praises Him for that.”
At the same time, you should honestly assess your ability to donate from your earnings and realise that at this very moment in time many of you will be able to provide a few hundred pounds at the very least which will save children from dying, and provide grain for the starving families that will see them through the difficult months ahead where there will almost certainly be no rain and the famine cycle starts again.
I guess it’s like almost like creating a pseudo-Yusuf state for these people – the Prophet Yusuf (‘alayhis-salam) was appointed by a country to do exactly this on their behalf. He invested in irrigation and harvested fully the crops and then stored the grain in preparation for the “famine” ahead and how successful he was in saving countless lives! We can do the same by investing our money into these charities who whilst working with ICRISAT and the UN FAO are able to do the same in our modern times.
We can all help and make a difference. We have to make that difference.
Today was a difficult day from all aspects and I get the feeling that I’ll be using that word a lot throughout this trip.
We had lengthy spells in our car travelling off-road to reach the Islamic Relief Malnutrition Centre, whilst witnessing women and children walking for miles carrying dirty stagnant water taken from watering holes shared with animals. We followed some of these villagers back to their huts and saw just how difficult a life they lead, just to be able to produce rough tasteless flour to make bread.
When we arrived at the health centre, some of the malnourishment that we witnessed during the handing out of nutrition packs was deeply distressing wa Allahu’l-musta’an. The one case explained in the video was particularly shocking and we will be following their family closely throughout our trip insha’Allah.
Yet we praise Him jalla wa ‘ala for His every mercy for as the day drew to a close, and I was mentally preparing myself for leading Salat’l-Istisqa’ (the Prayer for Rain) on Jumu’ah we heard that incredible, joyous and unmistakeable sound of raindrops and as we rushed outside our hotel and fulfilled the Sunnah of allowing the blessed rain touch our bodies, it was with true feeling that we recited the invocation of Allahumma Sayyiban Nafi’ah and Mu-tirna bi-fadhlillah and indeed by His grace, the people will be overjoyed tonight that their crops have been given a real chance to succeed this harvest. We saw the disappointment on the faces of the villagers earlier this afternoon but that’ll soon change to smiles!
I’ve always loved the rain (that’s why I live in Manchester!) but tonight my love for the rain increased many times over, wal-hamdulillah.
“And We send down blessed rain from the sky, then We produce therewith gardens and grain that are reaped.” (al-Qaf, 9)
It’s rare to get Shaykh Kehlan hafidhahullah to do an English lecture in the UK so all you folks in the North West must have hit the jackpot with this lecture going ahead this Saturday at Cheadle Masjid bi-ithnillah.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to prepare yourself for a month of ‘ibadah by learning about the secrets of ‘ubudiyyah (servitude) itself – this will be deep folks…
قصيدة كتبها كهلان عبدالله الجبوري بمناسبة قراءة صحيح البخاري في مركز الإمام البخاري في مدينة مانشستر في المملكة المتحدة بتاريخ 4/8/1431 هـ الموافق 14/7/2010 م
If you don’t already know about Boonaa then you need to get with the programme – this boy is the best there is at his game masha’Allah tabarak’l-Rahman and his genre is such a refreshing change to all that nasheed concert bakwas. May Allah jalla wa ‘ala preserve him and keep him inspiring the masses…
Dear friends, those who have been following this blog and Prophetic Guidance since the early days will know that in 2005 the Niger famine occurred after the locust invasion and then the ensuing total crop failure. It was a shocking time that led to mass action from the big charities post the BBC instigating mass guilt on our behalf. PG helped out at that time with your support and the Nigeriens were grateful for whatever little we did.
The problem is back in a big way following crop failure all this year and food prices rising way above the reach of the masses. Poor infra-structure and development as is the reality of the poorest countries in the world mean that thousands die completely needlessly when just a small amount of money and the expertise to utilise those funds in water irrigation and well-drilling would help and sustain complete villages and towns.
We have the ability to help through our efficient social networks and blessed ability to donate from our money due to the blessings that God has gifted us. So act, we must. And now.
I ask you all to help support this campaign. In a few days, I will be in Niger and will be updating from there with a live video blog over the following week as we put together with a BBC cameraman a documentary which will try and portray the reality as accurately as possible.
That documentary will then go live for Ramadhan where we hope to launch a huge appeal for funds bi-ithnillah.
I need you to promote the video above in all your networks so that people are aware of this plan, and allow them to follow the video blogs so that they see the reality for themselves. Finally, I will need one big push as you spread the short documentary to as many people as possible so that we can all dip into our pockets and help ourselves. Yes, ourselves. Such trials may cause devastation for those suffering in Niger but they will die soon in these circumstances far more quicker than we ever will here in our cosy homes – and thus it will haunt us for the rest of our long lives when we realise how little we did to help those begging from us.
I place my trust in God, and then my trust in you to do what you can.
May He bless you with all that is good in the life, and the next, ameen.
