17p to save a child's life
Richard Attenborough , goodwill ambassador for Unicef, appeals for help for
the stricken children
Mozambique floods: special report
Disaster Relief - MOD site
Disasters Emergency Committee - Mozambique Floods Appeal
Sunday March 5, 2000
The heartrendering images we have seen on television this past week,
depicting the people of Mozambique as they struggle to survive monstrous
cyclones and then widespread flooding, have upset me profoundly - as I'm sure
they have readers of The Observer .
What we are witnessing is a double tragedy in which the immediate desperation
of 900,000 men, women and children, some still dangerously stranded and most
without food or shelter, will inevitably be compounded by the long-term
effects of such utter devastation. Before disaster struck, Mozambique had
worked tremendously hard - and successfully - to get back on its feet after
more than a decade of civil war. Once the floodwaters recede, the work will
have to start all over again.
From the safety of our own homes we have watched entire villages being washed
away in muddy torrents and parents on rooftops scrambling to pass their
precious children into the hands of helicopter crews. Thankfully, further
help is already at hand through the work of the United Nations Children's
Fund.
As a grandfather of seven, when I became one of Unicef's Goodwill Ambassadors
in 1987 it was children such as these that I most wanted to help. So when I
realised the sheer scale of the Mozambique tragedy last week I phoned
Unicef's Ian MacLeod, whom I first met on a field trip to South Africa.
Ian's words go to the heart of the matter: 'Most of these people were already
desperately poor, struggling to grow enough food for their families on small
farms. And now they have lost everything. Whole communities have been swept
away and the lives of survivors have been shattered.'
But there is more. Even before the flooding, one-third of Mozambique's
children were chronically undernourished and malaria was the country's
biggest killer. As I write, many of these same children - vulnerable at the
best of times - are without any form of shelter and surviving on little or no
food.
It is, of course, the children who are most affected by such catastrophes. At
least 180,000 young children are now homeless and, while our own children and
grandchildren are safely back at school after the half-term break, the
children of Mozambique have no idea when, if ever, they will go to school
again.
Before the floods at least half of Mozambique's children were being educated
- a triumphant statistic for such a poor country - but, with many mud
classrooms now swept away it may take years before it can be attained again.
The nature of the double tragedy that has hit this brave and resilient
country is, of course, water. The floods have wiped out safe drinking
supplies, and children now find themselves surrounded by water that is
contaminated with sewage, cattle carcasses and the bodies of their former
neighbours. Brutally, the diseases it bears - cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea -
are all child-killers. And yet there is hope. If only we who are touched by
this tragedy from afar are willing to reach out to the children of
Mozambique, Unicef can help them, both now and in the future.
Right now Unicef is chlorinating water, making it safe to drink. At a cost of
only 17p, it can provide the oral rehydration salts that will save a child
from fatal diarrhoea. For far less than most of us would spend on any 'treat
', children can be immunised against other killer diseases, such as measles
and meningitis. Just £25 will make sure that 250 of them do not die from
malaria.
When I see such tragic images on television and learn the human stories
behind them, I cannot but be grateful that my own children and grandchildren
will never have to face such a devastating catastrophe.
I am sure I am not alone in this and that there are millions of caring people
throughout the UK who feel as I do. I do hope that those among them who read
The Observer will join with me in giving whatever they can to help the
children of Mozambique in their hour of greatest need.
hkanteh
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