On 20 May, MSF set up a centre in the Shashemene region of southern Ethiopia to provide 24 hour medical care to children suffering from complicated severe malnutrition. Within days the centre had admitted over 200 children. Here, some of the children's caretakers describe their struggle over the last few months.
Amina
My twin boys were sick for one week with diarrhoea, fever and vomiting. We went to the hospital and they gave us a polio vaccination. Then we came here. We don’t have land to farm. My husband used to work as a day labourer guarding the food on the farms, but this year there hasn’t been any food so he hasn’t had any work. We have 12 children. The oldest is 14 years old. They’re at home now, my brother-in-law is looking after them. If they can find food then they eat. If not then they sleep with no food.
We have had problems with food for the last six of seven years but this year is the worst.
Kadir
My daughter Alemitu is sick because we don’t have any milk. The cows are very thin because there has not been any rain and they have no grass to eat. I have two wives and nine children. Alemitu’s mother is looking after the baby, so I am here to take care of her. I’ve never had a child sick from hunger before. She is getting better but she doesn’t like to drink the milk they give her. We have some land, but not very much and we live hand to mouth. The land here is very dry so it’s common to have some problems with the rain, but this year is the worst. Our lives here depend on the rain, if there is enough rain then we can eat but if not then we go hungry.
Mohamed
My two sons are sick. The older one has been sick for a month, but we have had problems with food for two months now. Normally I farm enough food for my family, potatoes, maize, wheat and false banana. This year we have been eating a lot of false banana. The problem for most people is the lack of food and the lack of money. I did not have money to take my children to the hospital. I had to borrow money to bring them here. The rain is coming in the future so food will grow, but we don’t know how long it will take. That is God’s will.