“Since its inception ‘QUEST ZOUERA’ has been committed to making a difference in the
West African Country of Niger.

...Originally with an educational solar aid, but it became apparent from the filed trips that even the most basic improvement to their lives by the introduction of sustainable agricultural techniques was an absolute and basic necessity.

This is a land locked Sub Saharan country with a population of some 14 million and is recognised as one of the poorest countries on Earth.

This coming August will be the sixth visit there by Mervyn Church in less than two years. In October 2008 a visit to his then sponsored child ‘Zouera’ in her village of HANDAGA through the NGO World Vision UK was made.

The village of Handaga was at the time only accessed through sand tracks and takes 4+ hours travelling NW from the capital Niamey. It is a cluster of mud huts, these are occupied by different tribal groups who all exist together albeit within there own cultural divides.

The landscape is dry, arid, sandy just on the edge of the vast Sahara Desert punctuated with trees and bushes. Rainfall is for only a short 8-10 week period in June, July and August. It is sporadic and unpredictable during this ‘rainy season’ and last years rainfall fell far short of normal resulting in a failed harvest and famine.

Unfortunately due to a combination of poor organisation by World Vision UK and their local staff the visit of Mervyn Church in October 2008 was of a short duration (less than 2 hours.) This is far less than the ‘one day’ visit permitted in World Vision’s information pack that is provided to child sponsors wishing to visit their sponsored child.

It however became clear even in this short time that this poverty stricken community of 750+ required help. There was little to show for the claimed period of 6+ years that this NGO had been ‘active’. At the outset of their involvement World Vision identified parts of Niger that are so poor and with little natural resources that they require assistance and expertise. These are called by them ‘Zones of Intervention’ (ZOI’s) of which they have many. Within each ZOI there are further sub-divisions that are termed ‘Area Development Programmes’ (ADP). The village of Handaga falls within the ADP of Tera region operated by World Vision from their base complete with modern satellite communications.

World Vision then embarks on awareness and media exercise often supported by ‘prime time’ TV adverts. These highlight the circumstances under which the people survive and invite individuals and families within the UK to make a donation or to become a child sponsor. World Vision International operates in many Third World countries. Individual countries with an annual income exceeding… With such a regular income stream or ‘cash cow ‘one would expect their operations in the field to be efficient and demonstrating a level of commitment that can clearly be seen by visiting sponsors.

Mervyn Church was far from satisfied with what he saw or the explanations proffered by both World Vision Niger and there UK counterparts when they were challenged to provide full accountability for there work in Handaga.

In the Handaga village the total number of child sponsors exceeds 300 in October 2009 and with each sponsor paying at that time £16.50 per month per child the total annual sum collected is calculated as £59,000.oo (Fifty Nine Thousand Pounds Sterling).

But this is not the final sum each birthday and Christmas the sponsors are invited to make a special donation of either cash or the purchase of a sheep etc to make the child’s birthday “special”. This can add significantly to the overall sum that World Vision receives from child sponsors. If this was to be projected over the entire period of their operations in just the village of Handaga a sum exceeding £300,000 has been generated.

Mervyn Church was the first child sponsor to visit the village of Handaga and since then there have been no others. In fact he was also the first white person to visit the village as far as can be ascertained from the villagers.

He has made subsequent visits in December 2008/ January 2009, May 2009, September/October 2009, February 2010, June 2010. During each of these visits he has been careful to ascertain the work undertaken by World Vision (if any) and the overall situation. He is appalled and disappointed that now in Jul 2010 some 8.5 years after there initial intervention the village of Handaga has little or no sustainable improvement in its lifestyle.

With the exception of 2 new boreholes sunk for the provision of clean water (each of these a considerable distance from the village centre and costing just under US $17,000 each to provide) and the construction of 2 classrooms the Handaga community have little to show for the claimed expertise of World Vision.

So with this background QZ have intervened and provided the village school with urgently needed classroom equipment, new desks, refurbished desks that were found broken and unusable, first aid equipment ( vital in the approaching wet season when Malaria is rife), repairs to the ‘potholed’ concrete floors, decorations to the filthy walls, new blackboards etc.

In the village, food, fresh fruit / vegetables, first aid equipment and the hospitalisation of some 20 plus villagers for infections and malnutrition ( June 2010 visit alone ) –including some children under five years who are considered the most vulnerable ( Infant mortality rate in under fives is 70 % ! ).

Both the village and school have also benefited from fresh mutton, rice, vegetables and fruits on each of our visits. When we distributed fresh mangoes at the school in June 2010, with each child receiving a fruit it was confirmed by school staff these were the first since last season. The reason is simple these people are destitute totally reliant on peasant farming and have no available cash to buy produce in the markets.

To overcome these problems and to introduce a sustainable source of vegetables and fruits QZ have sought the advice of a Niamey based French company who specialise in tropical gardens in desert regions - JTS. They accompanied Mervyn Church last September 2009 to the village and identified an area where the introduction of these tropical gardens would provide food throughout the year.

Traditionally the ‘growing season’ runs parallel with the rainy season so the crops grown e. millet (main) okra etc are harvested at the end of the rainy season. These are then dry stored to provide food for the remainder of the year. Recognising that this is not sufficient the World Food Programme (WFP) through donor countries provide rice, millet and cooking oils to the village of Handaga and hundreds of villages throughout Niger.

It must be stressed that the WFP are in no way controlled by the NGO’s. World Vision had not provided any food to the school since December 2007 until they provided sufficient food for the sponsored children only for a single ‘feast’ during MC’s visit in February 2010. As the school is also attended by children not in the child sponsor scheme one begs the question how they differentiate between them?

When we examine more closely the claims made by World Vision of their achievement in their ‘Update’ magazine published yearly and sent to each child sponsor. In these they claim ‘ latrine building programmes, school canteens, healthier communities’, ( 2008 mag) , ‘market gardening’ – surely the most laughable claim of all by World Vision (Update mag 2009 ) ‘and a wider economic programme that aims to give families an extra income’ ( Update 2007 ) There is little or no evidence that this NGO has provided any sustainable improvement to the villages of Handaga or Sekome both of which are within the Tera ADP and have major child sponsorships from the UK.

Niger will soon become ‘Centre Stage’ as the plight of the people is covered by the media. Aid agencies and NGO’s have been forecasting a crisis for many months. Now this is unfolding before our very eyes, but could this have been avoidable if each village had been provided with the expertise to cultivate the crops outside of the rainy/growing season?

Our return in mid August 2010 is intended to provide assistance and help to the village of Handaga during this critical period and for the first time we shall update on the blog what is happening on the ground.