Every year, more than 35 million people are forced from their homes because of conflicts and natural disasters. In Aleg, in the Brakhna region of Mauritania, Oxfam was there with emergency food when their crops failed.
In these situations, women, children and elderly are the most vulnerable. Approximately 2,500 households – or 12,500 people – in the region needed supplies to help them cope with the lack of cereal during the lean season.
There was no hope of growing crops during the rainy season, and there would be no harvest – the crops were affected by locusts and a lack of water. A very difficult year ahead beckoned for the most vulnerable families.
Oxfam’s programme set out to help the most vulnerable families cope with both the immediate lack of food, and the longer-term implications of the grain shortfall, so Oxfam distributed 15 tons of cereals to 2,750 people in Aleg.
The programme also extended beyond people’s nutritional needs, and supported the villagers in other ways, such as providing hygiene kits and treated bed nets to stop the spread of Malaria.