SP EC IA L ED IT IO N
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Africa is facing the worst hunger crisis the world has seen in 50 years
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Contents
WINTER 2023
1 Convoy Drive, Springfield, MO 65802 Hope Quarterly is published by Convoy of Hope.
©2023 Convoy of Hope
Editor-in-Chief | Roger Flessing Editor | Scott Harrup Managing Editor | Lindsay Donaldson-Kring Content Editors | Levi Costello & Annie Denney
6 Africa Waits
A remote village in Madagascar and its fight against malnutrition.
Reporters | Levi Costello, Annie Denney, India Garrish & Jess Heugel
Photographers | Clayton Gilligan, Jess Heugel, Christian Lamb, Joe Mason, Simen Reinemo, Stephen Rippee & Dylan Stine
Webmaster | Jess Heugel
Creative Director | Josh Carter Designers | Aaron Davis, Leah Kiser & Misty Olivera
Board of Directors
18 Q&A: Jason McClaflin
Africa’s crisis is growing. But its people are resilient, and compassion and hope are making a difference.
Dr. Aaron Cole (Chair), Court Durkalski (Vice Chair), Telvin Jeffries (Secretary), Dr. Brad Trask (Treasurer), Dominick Garcia (Executive Member), Dr. Mike Burnette, Dr. Sam Huddleston, Randy Hurst, Lindsay Jacobs, Cheryl Jamison, Klayton Ko, Kay Logsdon, Rich Nathan, Tom Rankin, Sherilynn Tounger & Hal Donaldson (President) Feedback | editor@convoyofhope.org Website | convoyofhope.org Twitter | @convoyofhope Facebook | /convoyofhope
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Convoy News
Postmaster | Send address changes to: Hope Quarterly 1 Convoy Drive, Springfield, MO 65802
16 On the Map On the Cover: A hungry child in the dusty town of Lodwar is just one of the 9,490 children Convoy of Hope is feeding in Kenya. See page 16 to learn more about Convoy's growing response to Africa's need. (Photographer: Benson Manyunyu)
Some names and photos in this publication represent people who need to remain anonymous.
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Underreported B
efore serving at Convoy of Hope, I was a journalist and taught the subject at a local university. I value the news.
With online outlets at full throttle 24 hours a day, I can access up-to-theminute reports on just about anything. Unfortunately, despite new levels of accessibility, world events often receive minimal coverage.
considered the greatest hunger crisis the world has seen in 50 years. With this Special Edition of Hope Quarterly, we want to inform you of the crisis and outline our plans to rescue children and families.
Brought on by years of drought, the acceleration toward famine is considered the greatest hunger crisis the world has seen in 50 years.
The hunger crisis in Africa is one such underreported story that should be on everyone’s radar. Brought on by years of drought, the acceleration toward famine is
Friends like you have helped us intervene in African communities for years. But these times call for an urgent response. Thank you for standing with us.
Gratefully,
Hal Donaldson President, Convoy of Hope
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CONVOYNEWS
Water is another critically needed resource. After six failed rainy seasons, livestock are dying off in droves. More than 60% of Kenyans depend on agriculture and livestock as their sole source of income.
Horn of Africa Drought Threatens Millions C
onvoy of Hope is working in the Horn of Africa to help alleviate the suffering caused by incessant drought in the area. Since October 2020, this part of East Africa has endured the worst drought in 40 years, pushing 20 million people into crisis levels of food insecurity. The region continues to receive insufficient rain, and it will take years to heal from this devastation. Convoy organizes regular distributions in East Africa to bring help and hope to individuals and families. The greatest need is an emergencybased food program that can provide nutrition for a month at a time. Convoy has distributed more than 13.5 million meals across the Horn of Africa since 2008.
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Convoy recently helped an area in Northern Kenya develop a water catchment system to collect infrequent rains for long-term use. The large depression was dug by earthmoving equipment in a strategic area that naturally retains runoff from surrounding hills. Already, livestock are drinking from the pond; their survival will help ensure the community’s resilience.
Convoy has distributed more than 13.5 million meals across the Horn of Africa. Convoy will continue doing everything it can to help during this drought. Families are receiving take-home food kits of fortified lentils, vegetables, and rice. Convoy is also providing animal silage — fortified grass to feed livestock. “Before you brought me food,” said Elizabeth, a 98-year-old woman in Kenya, “I had been struggling to feed my grandchildren and myself.” Scan here to see Convoy of Hope in action in East Africa.
CONVOYNEWS
Convoy of Hope is providing relief in Sudan, bringing food, mosquito nets, and water filtration systems to refugee camps and villages impacted by recent violence. In mid-April, fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group. The conflict has forced nearly 4 million people from their homes. Convoy has provided more than 755,000 meals during a continuing response.
Morocco’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake on September 8 hit the remote High Atlas
Mountains and killed more than 2,900 people, making it the country’s deadliest earthquake since 1960. More than 5,500 were injured, and an estimated 300,000 were affected by the disaster. Convoy had team members on the ground within days. Convoy has helped more than 36,000 people so far with resources, including food, water, tents, hygiene kits, and even sheep and goats for families that lost livestock.
In Kenya, Convoy provides nutritious meals at an orphanage. Beatrice, the director, can
Scan here to help feed children like Stella.
tell a difference in the children who have had the fortified food Convoy provides. She’s convinced those meals are giving the children “hope and a bright future.” Stella, who lost both her parents, says her home with Beatrice and the assurance of the food from Convoy is making all the difference. “When I eat this food,” she says, “I have energy and good health that helps me finish my homework.”
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A hungry child is held by her mother in Madagascar. 7
FEATURE
Convoy of Hope’s life-giving mission to defeat hunger By Dr. Heath Adamson
W
hen you have a few moments, access a Google satellite image of Africa, focus on the southeastern coast, and zero in on Madagascar. The Texassized landmass in the Indian Ocean is the world’s fourthlargest island. Tighten your focus even more and join me and several Convoy of Hope team members as we fly into the southern region of Ejeda. You can’t drive safely into this part of the island, so the small chartered plane is a must. We can land thanks to the backbreaking work of local men who smoothed a dirt runway with hand tools.
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This region is grappling with severe food insecurity. Africa is in the midst of a slow-onset humanitarian crisis. Most scholars believe in the years ahead that crisis will be pronounced and exacerbated unless the world mounts a response. Regional food access has been severely limited by the war in Ukraine and COVID-19, further expediting the rate at which disaster approaches. As our plane rolls to a stop, hundreds of people come from all over. I meet a mom whose child has just been medevaced to the capital, Antananarivo, due to Level 4 malnutrition. I will visit that hospital later, and the sights will tear at my soul.
Phases of Food Insecurity* *Phases are paraphrased from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
Phase 1 Most households can feed themselves and their families without outside assistance.
Phase 2 Finding food is difficult, and households can’t easily afford nonfood essentials.
Phase 3 Households are either experiencing food gaps that lead to above-usual acute malnutrition OR can only meet their food needs by going without other essential resources.
FEATURE
In Ejeda, we meet with local leaders. We’re sitting underneath a tree. Most of the men from the village have come. The elders are sitting in the middle with the chief and his son. With sober courtesy, they offer our team the few available chairs as they sit on the ground. We ask their permission to begin an intervention program in their community. They readily agree, but the chief says something to me that is striking: “We have had other guests come here before, and they always promise to help. And they never come back.”
'We have had other guests come here before, and they always promise to help. And they never come back.'
Phase 4 Households are either experiencing large food gaps that lead to very high acute malnutrition OR can only meet their food needs by going to extreme lengths.
Phase 5 No matter what they do, households are experiencing an extreme lack of food. Starvation, death, and extreme acute malnutrition are widespread.
What could be worse than suffering in poverty? Being given a glimpse of hope — and then people choose not to follow through on their promises. Convoy of Hope is careful when making commitments. We strive to underpromise and overdeliver. We carefully identify achievable first steps, and work hard to surpass them. continues on page 13
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It’s estimated that by 2030, nearly one-third of the people in Africa will be living in extreme poverty.
We are helping people become the architects of their own solutions. Join us ... because AFRICA WAITS.
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FEATURE
Convoy serves a community in Kenya. 12
FEATURE continued from page 9
Incremental faithfulness is the only way to effectively confront Africa’s hunger. We’re in the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has seen in decades. Yes, there is suffering and poverty all over the world. But Africa is by far the hardest hit. In our hotel, before we boarded the plane, we ate a few small pieces of bread, a few small slices of cheese, and we each had one tablespoon of apple sauce. That was our breakfast, and I remember thinking I was hungry. But when we land in Ejeda, I am surrounded by children with orange hair, a sign of critical malnutrition. They would have loved to have eaten my breakfast. Soon after that meeting with the elders, Convoy of Hope made a commitment to begin a feeding program in that region.
By the end of this year, we are on track to feed 4,000 children. We’re responding swiftly, and that’s only the beginning. We have plans to launch Women’s Empowerment and Agriculture soon. Plans are underway to mobilize the medical community for preventative care in this part of Madagascar and put a substation in Ejeda with a malnutrition clinic. Right now, only a handful of children are medevaced to the capital; a great many more die before they can be helped. “Such remote access creates extreme difficulty,” says Alice Rahelimalala, Convoy’s national director for Madagascar. “But we are committed to developing community-led programs that mitigate the effect of malnutrition and empower the community.”
Asset-Based Community Development Convoy of Hope studies community culture and key human interactions. Sustainable change comes from assets already in place — local people helping others without recognition and with few resources. In Madagascar, women volunteer as teachers and walk for hours to show up and teach a lesson. Children bring one stick each day to school. The sticks are fuel to cook the food Convoy provides. Local assets include fathers who promise to keep their children in school rather than pull them out to help tend crops. Dads work extra hours alone so their children can be fed and educated.
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FEATURE
'I wanted you to leave with a smile on your face. Every day you put a smile on our face because you give us food.' About 1,400 miles northwest of Madagascar, Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is a study in contrasts. One of Africa’s premier cities, Nairobi also includes Mathare Valley — several square miles of deep poverty and hunger. Our team visits a school where Convoy maintains a regular feeding program. “Our intervention has borne fruit,” says Convoy’s Kenya Director Naomi Ateng’. “We can do more by engaging the communities in sustainable activities.” Convoy wants to see more schools like this one become centers of hope across the nation. The students gather around, and Helen, the school administrator, displays a drum. She sets the beat as a young girl steps out of the crowd and begins dancing. Esther had heard Convoy of Hope was coming, and she rehearsed her dance for months.
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FEATURE
One of many food distributions in East Africa.
At the end of the dance, we’re all deeply moved. I ask if I can have a few words with Esther through an interpreter. “Why did you do a dance?” I ask her. “What gave you the courage?” “I wanted you to leave with a smile on your face,” she says. “Every day you put a smile on our face because you give us food.” Madagascar and Kenya offer two glimpses into Convoy of Hope’s continental vision. (See “On the Map” on pages 16 and 17.) But this humanitarian crisis still looms. Africa waits … for compassion-hearted friends who refuse to be intimidated by the scale of the need and are willing to link arms in a life-giving mission to defeat hunger.
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ON THE MAP
Convoy of Hope's Presence in Africa
West Africa
Togo
18,938 6,251
For more than 20 years, Convoy of Hope has steadily grown its presence in Africa. The following participant totals from 2022 represent thousands of children, women, and families who are discovering new pathways out of poverty and hunger. Scan the QR codes to access additional news on Convoy’s work in Africa.
In the past 15 years, Convoy of Hope has distributed more than 29 million meals across Africa.
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10,842
4,216
34,868
ON THE MAP
3,914
South Sudan Uganda
Ethiopia
1,291
Kenya
Tanzania
11,988 23,053
18,444 Zambia Zimbabwe
Madagascar
753 South Africa
Eswatini
2,464 17
Q&A
Born and raised in East Africa, Jason McClaflin and his family dedicated years to service on the continent of Africa. In addition, he and his wife, Hollie, spent 12 years in the Middle East working with nonprofits and churches. A graduate of Harvard University, Jason now serves Convoy of Hope as vice president of Global Program.
HQ: How did growing up in Africa shape you?
needs like personal dignity and hope for the future cross borders?
Jason: I value the power of community because of my time in Africa. I learned a lot about sacrifice from observing sacrifice, knowing people who had nothing and yet were willing to give even what they had for the sake of others. And, because I was raised in a society where elders and experience are respected, I deeply respect the elder community.
Jason: The need for hope is ubiquitous, not just to survive a certain situation or circumstance but to have hope for the future, your family, and your children. The absence of hope erodes humanity. Some of the most inhumane actions and reactions I’ve witnessed have been when people were deprived of hope.
HQ: Having worked in Africa and the Middle East, what are some common needs across both regions? How do
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Personal dignity is always important, but cultural forces can rob someone of dignity. That’s reflected in how the poor and certain groups are treated in many places.
Q&A
You have to break through that mindset. People who once devalued certain groups can become sources of great compassion for those groups. And breakthroughs can come in the other direction. I’ve worked among people who have been brutalized, and yet they treat with love and compassion those who have brutalized them. HQ: What misconceptions can keep people from responding to Africa’s need? Jason: We can fail to realize life doesn’t work the same way as where we are. I was recently in an extreme famine area, and someone in our group asked, “Why do people even stay here?” But where are they going to go? Can they walk 300 miles? Can they suddenly leave their society that’s been living there for 400 years? Our mobility and opportunities can blind us to economic, cultural, and ideological barriers people face. HQ: Madagascar is one of Convoy’s newer regions of service. What are the goals? Jason: We have an amazing national director in Madagascar with lots of vision, and we
have a great partnership with national churches. We’re establishing a presence in and around the capital. Other areas, because of challenging geography, are virtually cut off. The poverty in those places is even more extreme, with rampant malnutrition among children. We are pursuing an intense assetbased community development project that will include feeding, agriculture, and Women’s Empowerment, and we’re focusing on malnutrition issues. HQ: How would you describe Convoy’s impact on other African countries? Jason: Convoy’s strong partnerships with local nongovernmental organizations and local churches lead to deep relationships in communities. Local leaders are begging us to come and are giving us land for community gardens or school gardens. Doors are opening because we’re viewed as people who stay when things get tough and who do good work without showing partiality. One of the strongest aspects of our work in Africa is that we help communities build resilient systems from what they have.
This is a testament to the ability and determination of our local Convoy staff and partners. HQ: Africa’s hunger crisis seems insurmountable. How can we move from hopelessness to intentional intervention? Jason: The thought of feeding millions of people can be overwhelming. But as you systematically feed a few hundred — while creating community development to sustain that program — that can grow rapidly. Convoy looks to the future and recognizes the cycle of poverty will never end if we don’t do something. In a desolate and hopeless place, once you’ve seen hope, it can grow and transfer to others. Supplying the physical need and transferring real hope is Convoy of Hope’s goal. In the midst of extreme drought, hunger, and desperation, we can fixate on the need and overlook the resiliency and ingenuity of Africans. They’re looking for partners. One of Africa’s greatest assets is the resiliency and ingenuity of its people.
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Visit us online at: convoyofhope.org
Mail: 1 Convoy Drive Springfield, MO 65802-2213 P: (417) 823-8998 F: (417) 823-8244 Donations: P.O. Box 1125 Springfield, MO 65801
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