Editor's Desk: A United Front

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 8/18/05)

The plight of Niger’s starving children has created an unlikely inter-denominational partnership. Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the U.S. bishops’ overseas aid agency, has partnered with the Church of The Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to send 40 tons (80,000 pounds) of children's nutritional supplement, called Atmit, to Niger. The food, which is expected to help as many as 7,000 malnourished children, was loaded into trucks Aug. 10 in Salt Lake City.

The relief agency has chosen to send the food via air shipment to Niger because of the time-sensitive nature of the crisis, CRS officials said. Significant private contributions from CRS donors and the Church of The Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are supporting the cost of the airlift. The support of DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, a member of the DHL worldwide network, has enabled the shipment to take place. CRS and the Church of The Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have partnered throughout the years on many humanitarian relief efforts.

The shipment will be driven to JFK Airport in New York and then airlifted to Niamey via Brussels. The food was expected to arrive on Aug. 15 in Niamey, where CRS will meet the goods and start transporting them to feeding centers immediately.

Atmit is manufactured and packaged by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The church has donated the entire amount, worth approximately $40,000, to CRS in response to the Niger food shortage emergency.

CRS has used Atmit, an easily digestible food made especially for children and the elderly, successfully in Ethiopia. Atmit contains 50 percent oatmeal flour, 25 percent non-fat milk, 20 percent sugar, and 5 percent vitamins and minerals. CRS officials say they will use the product in its therapeutic feeding activities with its local partner, Helen Keller Institute (HKI).

CRS is responding to the crisis in Niger, where more than 3.6 million people face severe food shortages, with a $2.7 million emergency relief program.

This humanitarian crisis is the result of a double jeopardy of last year's vegetation-devouring locusts and devastating drought that has virtually destroyed food production across much of this West African country, and has resulted in significant loss of seeds for future planting.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its climate is harsh and natural resources are deteriorating. Sixty-three percent of the country's 11.5 million people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day. According to UNICEF, 40 percent of Niger's children are malnourished, the fertility rate is an average of eight births per woman, and 84 percent of the adult population cannot read or write.

CRS has managed relief and development programs in Niger since 1991, and, across the world, distributes the most amount of food among all nongovernmental organizations. The agency provides assistance to people in 99 countries and territories based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed.

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