Isolated Ethiopian Areas Outposts of Starvation

In the isolated villages of northern Ethiopia, miles from roads and help, people are still dying of starvation.

Northern Ethiopia is a land of wind-swept plateaus cut by deep ravines. There are few roads and it takes a long time for the outside world to hear of hunger in such places--if it ever does.

Canadian helicopter pilot Don Wederfort said he was told in June by farmers living on top of one such plateau that 350 peasants and monks were starving in the tiny village of Ganamba at the bottom of the escarpment.

Wederfort was able to bring the people food and about four tons of seeds, landing his helicopter on a small area of level ground near their village. That saved their lives, and Ganamba is now relatively thriving again and is surrounded by small patches of greenery.

Wederfort said if he had not been told of the village, purely by chance, most of the villagers would be dead.

In nearby areas of northern Wollo province, seeds are of no use.

Despite good rains in other drought-hit areas this summer, much of Wollo remains bare and gray. This year’s harvest is expected to be little better than last year’s disastrous crop.

Isolated patches of green seen from the air are deceptive.

“Now the rain has stopped, some crops are not as good as they look in the distance. It’s not a complete failure, but things are dry,” said Beth Mathews, the Canadian medical coordinator at Harbo, south of the major famine camp at Korem.

According to the U.S.-based religious charity World Vision--one of the largest private agencies working in Ethiopia--2,000 people die every day of malnutrition and related diseases.

Nobody knows for sure how many have died since the emergency appeal was launched a year ago in the developed world after the broadcasting of news film showing the starving people of Ethiopia.

The outgoing U.N. relief chief in Ethiopia, Assistant Secretary General Kurt Jansson of Finland, said most estimates put the number at under 500,000. Nobody knows how many hundreds of thousands died in the preceding drought years.

The government says that millions were saved by the outpouring of aid in the last year.

The benefits of that aid are most evident in the large famine camps, like Korem, where in October last year 100 people a day were dying and the survivors were little more than skin and bones. Now the children at Korem are boisterous and daring, asking visitors for pens and money.

In late October, the camp had only 20,000 inhabitants, contrasted with 85,000 in January. Most of those who have left have returned to their villages or been resettled in more fertile parts of the west.