The Go-Back Club
Newsbooklet of the Simple-Living Brigade: Special Edition
These are OUR stories: www.gobackclub.org
Our members live in 20 states, Washington D.C., two Canadian provinces, Korea, Nigeria, and UK.
Milk Basket NGO/Go-Back Club Partnership
This is a Special Issue devoted to the development of our partnership with the Milk Basket in Nigeria,
containing background about our newsbooklet to help you understand what this joint project is all about.
What on Earth is the Go-Back Club?
A Simple-Living Brigade
Our Motto: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
Founder/Editor: Iona Conner
Established: September 2013
Web site: www.gobackclub.org
Contact: The Go-Back Club, c/o Iona Conner,
21431 Marlin Circle, Shade Gap, Pennsylvania
17255; 814-259-3680; [email protected].
What is The Go-Back Club all about?
We want to change people’s hearts. Our
members live simply so that our collective
carbon footprint grows smaller every day. We
are working toward a common goal of reducing our individual impacts on climate change.
Who are we trying to attract?
We hope to reach people who are concerned
about global warming and realize that they are
part of the problem but don’t know what to
do. We invite them to join our Club. Please tell
your family and friends about us. They can go
to www.gobackclub.org to sign up.
What are we trying to achieve?
Our members are part of the global movement of people who know that global warming
is an immediate threat and who want to prevent
further harm and even reverse the situation.
We look to others for inspiration.
People are “like a blind man walking randomly toward a cliff. The only thing that will
save him is to go backwards.”
Michael Mann (climate scientist and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, referring to climate tipping points
during a visit to Penn State, where Mann directs the Earth Systems Science Center)
“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! Simplicity of life and
elevation of purpose.”
Henry David Thoreau
What on Earth is the Milk Basket?
An NGO to help end poverty and hunger in Africa
Nigeria: A country where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance
prevails, and where one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to
oppress, rob, and degrade them — neither persons nor property will be “safe.”
Founder: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
Established: 2011
Web site: www.milkbasketng.com
Contact: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles. Our office
in Imo State, Nigeria organizes trips to our
Niger Delta villages, coordinates and implements our programs, and supplies our sponsors and partners updates on each project.
Address: Phase II Amakohia, Owerri, Imo
State; Tel:ephone: +234 (0) 8160029731
What is the goal of the Milk Basket?
To develop the best outreach and create
program practices, which will help fill the gaps
in education and food service for millions of
children living in the creek communities in the
highly-polluted, poverty-stricken Niger Delta.
How did the Milk Basket start?
The Milk Basket started its first project in
Odi, Bayelsa State, where Milk Basket founder, Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, spent a year after his graduation from college. Ekwe’s heart
was so touched by the children that he started
the Milk Basket in 2011 and has held onto
his dream of returning to carry out the mission and goals of the Milk Basket. Odi was
the scene of a violent massacre in 1999 when
thousands of innocent civilians were brutally
murdered. The community is trying to rebuild
and regain normality and a sense of security
in their lives. We partnered with The Go-Back
Club in March 2015.
What are we trying to achieve?
The Niger Delta Region produces the oil
wealth that accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s
foreign earnings. Paradoxically, however, these
vast revenues from an international industry
have barely touched the Niger Delta’s own pervasive local poverty. We want to prevent further harm and even reverse the situation.
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 2
Introducing New GBC Member From Nigeria
Dedicated to Ending Hunger and Poverty: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
(Compiled from several emails, published
February 2015: see www.gobackclub.org.)
Objectives of
The Nigerian Scheme
I am a practicing researcher in my
field of Food Science and Technology. I
strongly believe that this world will be a
better place if we can plant more and develop our food-processing industry.
You can check my journals at https://independent.academia.edu/EkweCharles.
Please feel free to add me to your newsletter. I will be glad to read about your
achievements.
***
I want to personally say thank you for all
your efforts in making this world a better
place in the midst of all the hate, greed, and
self interest of individuals at top positions.
It’s actually a relief to know that I am not
the only one trying to make a difference
in this world that a few care. With the
situation of things in my country, I have
decided to start doing something instead
of waiting for the greedy politicians
to change.
I have decided to dedicate
my youth to helping the helpless by
reducing hunger and putting an end to
underdevelopment and abject poverty.
I have a dream that one day poverty will
be exterminated through agriculture and
human development.
I served in Odi, Bayelsa State, a riverine
community that was affected by a serious
crisis back in 1999 during former president
Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, and till date
there are still signs that something bad
happened in that community many years
ago as there are malnourished children
in that community and other riverine
communities in Nigeria and all over the
world.
But why this case is very touching is
the fact that these communities are located
in oil-rich environments, but yet there is
no clean water supply and good medical
services or power supply in these villages.
Here, education is going [down] the
drain because our government has refused
to impact on people’s lives over there.
Children die every now and then
because their poor farmer parents can’t
afford to take them to better hospitals for
adequate health care. It’s really a pity.
Here, people drink from wells, rain water,
or river water (brown water), children die
every day from malaria and other healthrelated problems ranging from diarrhea to
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A girl in Niamey, Niger. April 2006
other water borne illnesses arising from the
fact that they [don’t] have clean water and
don’t feed well.
During my service year, I belonged to a
CDS group called Charity and what we did
was to donate by free will—milk, soaps,
detergents, and food items—in some cases,
financial help was rendered to the poor in
order to make an impact on lives, no
matter how small.
I even wrote to some food companies to
help us with free food items where we can
partner with them and save lives, which
did not come to pass until my passing out.
We even went a step ahead to conduct
a seminar for poor farmers on improved
agricultural practices, which will eventually
lead to better productivity from their
farms; we encouraged them to venture
into local food processing to reduce
harvest losses and increase the shelf life of
perishable farm produce.
It’s really difficult when you don’t get
much required help from the government
or financial firms.
I have to stop here, because there
is much to be done, which will not be
achieved without starting from the little
you can.
Thank you again for your time; may God
continue to help you do your work.
***
I am happy to know that you would like
to publish my letter in your newspaper, I
will be most grateful as it will be a huge
step to let people know what is going on.
When I talk about service, it refers to a
one-year service to our country Nigeria
after our graduation from the University.
The goals are stated in the box.
The objectives of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme are clearly spelled out in
Decree No. 51 of June 16, 1993 as follows:
1. To inculcate discipline in Nigerian
youths by instilling in them a tradition of
industry at work and of patriotic and loyal
service to Nigeria in any situation they may
find hemselves.
2. To raise the moral tone of the Nigerian
youths by giving them the opportunity to
learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement.
3. To develop in the Nigerian youths the
attitudes of mind, acquired through shared
experience and suitable training, which will
make them more amenable to mobilization
in the national interest.
4. To enable Nigerian youths [to] acquire
the spirit of self reliance by encouraging
them to develop skills for self employment.
5. To contribute to the accelerated growth
of the national economy.
6. To develop common ties among the
Nigerian youths and promote national unity
and integration.
7. To remove prejudices, eliminate ignorance, and confirm at first hand the many
similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic
groups.
8. To develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the people of
Nigeria.
9. The equitable distribution of members
of the service corps and the effective utilization of their skills in areas of national needs.
10. That, as far as possible, youths are assigned to jobs in States other than their States
of origin.
11. That such a group of youths assigned
to work together is as representative of Nigeria as far as possible.
12. That the Nigerian youths are exposed
to the modes of living of the people in different parts of Nigeria.
13. That the Nigerian youths are encouraged to eschew religious intolerance by accommodating religious differences.
14. That members of the service corps are
encouraged to seek, at the end of their oneyear national service, career employment all
over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labor.
15. That employers are induced partly
through their experience with members of
the service corps to employ more readily and
on a permanent basis, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin.
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 3
GBC Member, Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, Describes Situation
in His Country; Starts NGO to Help Starving Children
(Received this email after sending action alert link
to story titled “U.S. Company Threatens Nigerian Farmers
and Their Land;” published March 2015: see www.gobackclub.org.)
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, Nigeria
I am not surprised at all, that is a real Nigerian situation—greed,
deprivation, and intimidation, That’s the way things are run over
here.
Our system is too corrupt and the politicians are self centered
and too greedy to consider the poor farmers who livelihoods are
about to be cut short.
They only care about what they are getting from that deal,
that’s all. If it will actually lead to development and freedom from
poverty, they don’t care—that’s why you see that the farmers were
not informed about anything. You will be amazed to find out
that these greedy politicians have already collected money for
compensation which was supposed to be given to the affected
farmers, but we all know that they will never get a dime without a
fight.
The government is so corrupt and that’s why you find out that
malnutrition kills half a million Nigerian children annually. Here
poor feeding conditions and acute malnutrition are reported to kill
no fewer than 500,000 Nigerian children under the age of five each
year, out of over a million of them that suffer the condition every
year.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Director and Head of the
Nutrition Division of the Federal Ministry on Health at the 31st
National Scientific Conference (organized by the Association
of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria), which I attended.
Malnutrition is rampant in Nigeria because our leaders are not
affected by hunger in any way.
According to his speech, 30% of Nigerian children are
underweight for their ages, meaning they don’t weigh enough for
their ages, adding that the percentage of children who are wasted
or too thin for their heights has also steadily increased.
Over the last decade, it has risen from 11% to 18% in 2013,
you will agree with me that we are indeed faced with a national
challenge. This is worsened by the fact that nearly four out of
five Nigerian children do not meet the WHO recommendation
for exclusive breast feeding during the first six months of
life. In the creeks of the Niger Delta, you will witness stunted
children everywhere who have poor physical growth and brain
development, preventing them from thriving and living up to their
full potentials.
I feel, since the government is not doing much, concerned
and well-placed individuals should take up the challenge in
order to avert malnutrition by donating packaged milk to
poor communities ensuring that the child has the best possible
Ekwe Chiwundu Charles at the “Food, Nutrition, and Wellness: Key to National
Transformation Agenda.” He started the Milk Basket in 2011 to provide milk to
starving children in Nigeria. (Photo Provided)
opportunity to grow, learn, and also rise out of poverty.
I am currently working on an NGO called Milk Basket here.
We will donate milk to malnourished children all over Nigeria,
especially in the interior riverine areas of Nigeria. I even came up
with a theme “You can make a difference by donating a tin of milk
to a malnourished child in Africa today!!” I know it will take a lot
of work and finance but I am sure working on it.
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali LXIX
Submitted by C. B., Pennsylvania
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 4
Milk Basket Project in Africa Partners With GBC
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, Nigeria
Published July 2015: see www.gobackclub.org.
Non-Governmental Organization start-up
aims to help save starving children and build
libraries in poor communities in Nigeria.
The Milk Basket will represent an institution or organization set
up to provide nutritional tips, safe food processing practices, and
distribute milk packs to malnourished children. Recently I thought
of adding canned water too because some communities in the deep
creeks don’t have access to clean water; most times they drink from
the same river they throw all sorts of rubbish into. It will be more
like a charity organization.
Also I’m hoping I can build libraries in towns right in the middle
of many communities. These communities lack educational materials, the children here resort to hooliganism and touting because
there is no inspiration for them.
Even the outgoing president of Nigeria is from the Niger Delta,
yet it’s one of the most underdeveloped parts of Nigeria. He failed to
build libraries knowing that his tribesmen are not keen on getting
education per se. The future is a blur for the kids inside these creeks
(education wise).
“Save Some Kids” is the title of this photo, which was taken after the last flooding in
Odi, a riverine community in Bayelsa State where Ekwe Chiwundu Charles served
for one year after graduating from college. The children are malnourished and without
clean drinking water or adequate medical care. (Photo by Ekwe Chiwundu
Charles)
Note from Iona: Earlier this year Ekwe Chiwundu Charles invited The Go- Back Club to co-sponsor his newly-formed NGO. I was
thrilled to be able to do that and give our “Club” an international
presence so I eagerly agreed. To learn more or to make a donation,
go to www.milkbasketng.com or https://angel.co/milkbasket.
A Glimpse of Life in the Niger Delta:
A Student Corps Member Who Has Four Dogs
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, Nigeria
Published December 2015: see www.gobackclub.
org.
I love pets, especially dogs. When I was
in Bayelsa serving, there was this man who
was a farmer, palm wine tapper, hunter,
and fisherman. He had five dogs. Most
times he stayed in the farm for three weeks,
farming and catching fishes. So I took up
the responsibility of feeding his dogs because there was a kind of law banning dogs
from straying from their owner’s home.
Initially dogs were allowed to roam free
but something happened. A fisherman
was drying his special fishes under the sun
when another man’s dog ate some of his
fishes and he shot the dog. A fight ensued.
People were wounded (cutlass wounds,
broken legs and arms). It’s as if two kindreds that hate themselves for reasons best
known to them had that clash.
After this fight, the king of the com-
munity banned dogs from roaming free
looking for food, and decreed that any dog
that strays will be shot on sight and used
for pepper soup. Most of these dogs were
hunting dogs anyways.
One time the farmer stayed across the
river for a month, probably because he
wanted to cover up because the rains were
coming, and he needed to harvest his crops
before the river comes up and covers bush
paths they take to their farms.
One of our dogs strayed and was shot
and eaten. We did not see her again.
I now took it upon myself to feed the
remaining four. I personally went to the
market to gather bones from the butchers’
stands, and also paid small restaurants to
gather leftovers for me which were poured
into a bucket I gave to them to use, to keep
them instead of throwing them away into
the river while washing.
I successfully saved the four dogs from
being killed and used for meat, after which
they followed me around as if I owned
them. Anytime I was going to school they
followed me to the road. Sometimes
I had to chase them back with a stick so
they won’t stray away from following me.
Some people got scared when I was passing and to fetch water at the well with four
dogs following behind. Some even left their
buckets and ran away because they were
afraid.
I always used to tell them not to be
scared; if you love an animal and pose no
threat to it, believe me, it won’t harm you
unless you eat them too. Dogs have a good
sense of spirituals smell. They always chase
people who kill and eat other dogs. I don’t
know how they did it, but if a man is passing and ate dog meat previously or enjoys
eating dogs, the dogs always chase them.
Sometimes the villagers referred to me as
“that corps member that has four dogs” in
their funny dialect. I got to find out later.
Well that’s my dog story.
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 5
Is Food Industrialization a Pathway to
Agribusiness Transformation?
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
Owerri, Nigeria
Published November 2015: see www.gobackclub.
org.
“We are the food we eat,
the water we drink, the air
we breathe. And reclaiming
the democratic control over
our food and water and our
ecological survival is the
necessary project for our
freedom.”
-Vandana Shiva, physicist and activistThe objective of much of our industrial
food system is to provide a profit to
shareholders and CEOs. Many policymakers
and supporters, historically as today, have
been driven by the conviction that industrial
agriculture is the best way to produce
massive amounts of affordable food. And in
some ways it has accomplished this.
People in the United States spend
relatively little on food, about seven percent
of their total spending, as compared to 13
percent in France, 23 percent in Mexico, and
38 percent in Vietnam. Most individuals in
the United States. devote less time, energy,
and money to feeding than they ever have
historically.
On the buying end, it seems an irresistibly
good deal, but in the real sense these prices
represent just a fraction of the true costs of
getting that food. We pay for the hidden
costs of the corporate food supply chain in
multiple ways, not all of them financially.
We subsidize food corporations through
our taxes, which pay for public works like
transportation infrastructure for longdistance shipping (highways, airports, and
railroads), communication infrastructure
(satellites, television, radio, and internet),
energy infrastructure (coal plants and
nuclear power stations), and research and
development (like government-funded
crop research). Tax dollars also fund the
government subsidies that keep certain crop
prices low, allowing corporations to create
their processed foods so cheaply.
The thousands of chemical additives
Ekwe Chiwundu Charles attended the Nigerian
Institute of Food Science and Technology’s conference,
“ Food Industrialization: A Pathway to Agribusiness
Transformation” at the University of Calabar. He
is participating in various lectures and activities to
prepare him for his dream of improving the quality
and safety of food in Africa and helping starving
children through the Milk Basket, an NGO he
started in 2011. (Photo supplied by author)
the world consumes every day is yet one
more reason we have a critical food safety
problem. Thanks to industry influence
over the approval process, the long-term
safety risks for most of these substances are
unknown. For example, science has pointed
to chemical food dyes as a significant
contributor to child behavioral problems
for years. And yet the federal government
still fails to recognize this connection. In
addition, we’ve seen a huge increase in food
allergies in children in recent years, but
without much explanation of the causes.
Clearly, more research is needed into
how the industrialized food supply may
be impacting our health in ways that are
less obvious than the immediate, dramatic
effects of foodborne illness.
Small- and medium-sized farmers pay
extremely high hidden costs. Their farms
have been steadily disappearing as land is
further consolidated into the hands of fewer
people. The United States has lost 800,000
farmers and ranchers in the last 40 years
and this is nothing compared to what local
farmers are experiencing in Nigeria today;
black farmers and land owners suffer. Farm
workers and other laborers all along the
food supply chain also pay by receiving
inadequate wages; they are twice as likely to
live below the poverty line.
As consumers, we all pay with our
health and well-being. Our country’s most
popular cuisine is affectionately called
‘junk,’ after all. Eating the highly-processed
food made readily available to us has led to
epidemic levels of diabetes and heart disease.
Individuals get chastised for their own dietrelated problems while ‘junk food’ is much
easier and cheaper to access than healthy
food.
Recent outbreaks of Listeria and stomachacid-resistant E. coli are other manifestations
of the costs to our health, and food-safety
experts blame the industrialized production
of grain-fed cattle and poultry for the
emergence of these dangerous bacteria
strains.
Our planet pays profound hidden costs:
polluted water, air, and soil; deforestation;
acid rain; species extinction; and climate
change. The corporate food system wreaks
countless ecological harm.
Spraying toxic pesticides on our food has
become the norm, so much so that we have
come to view it as part of ‘conventional’
agriculture, though there’s nothing
conventional about it. These chemicals move
throughout our ecosystem, making their
way into groundwater and our drinking
supply, traveling down streams and rivers,
and eventually reaching the ocean.
In just one example, fertilizer running off
fields and down the Mississippi River has
created such an imbalance that there is a
‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico the size
of New Jersey where nothing can survive.
Pesticides also wind up on our plates and in
our bloodstreams.
In 2005, the Environmental Working
Group tested the umbilical cords of 10
babies from different United States hospitals
and found an average of 200 industrial
chemicals and pollutants in their blood,
including a number of pesticides.
Monocropping, a farming system where
the same crop is grown on a piece of land
year after year, is foundational to industrialscale agriculture. Yet it depletes the soil,
upends the ecological balance, and creates
conditions highly susceptible to pests and
disease, requiring more pesticides and
fertilizers.
If all of these costs showed up in the
Food continued on next page
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 6
Food continued from page 6
prices we pay at the store, things would be
very different. If prices reflected the oil that
powers the jet to bring a banana thousands
of miles, together with the air pollution
that results, the workers’ healthcare costs
after handling pesticides, and the future
loss of soil health due to monocropping,
this fruit would certainly be a luxury item
in the North rather than part of an average
American breakfast.
Has agribusiness won such control that a
turnaround is impossible?
No. Small farmers, grassroots groups,
and advocacy organizations are demanding
food sovereignty, meaning the right of
every people to produce adequate, healthy,
affordable, and culturally appropriate food
for all. They are everywhere creating and
supporting community-controlled, scaleddown, local food networks. Dismantling
the governmental policies and global trade
rules that have taken agriculture out of the
hands of small farmers the world over is the
prerequisite for claiming a just and healthy
food system.
I know Africa needs development in
agribusiness and food industrialization,
but my question still remains, “Will food
industrialization do more harm than good
in Africa??”
Ekwe Chiwundu Charles started a NonGovernmental Organization called the Milk
Basket to raise money to send tins of milk
and clean drinking water to starving and
malnourished children in Africa. The Go-Back
Club is a co-sponsor. To learn more and make
a donation, please go to www.milkbasketng.
com or hhtp://angel.co/milk-basket. To see
Ekwe’s research work, please go to https://
independent.academia.edu/EkweCharles.
Fundraising for Milk Basket Visit to USA
Service close to our home. Soon I will be arranging fund-raising events at churches our
Grassroots Coalition has worked with in the
past.
By Iona
Published January 2016: see www.gobackclub.
org.
The Go-Back Club is trying to raise
money so that Ekwe Chiwundu Charles can
come to America from Nigeria to network
with people here about ways to help starving African children, starting in the highlypolluted area of the Niger Delta, where he
served for one year as a volunteer after he
graduated from college with a BS degree in
Food Science and Technology. The project
is called the Milk Basket and the goal is to
provide canned milk and clean drinking
water to these children. As time goes by,
he also hopes to build libraries so that the
young people can be educated and rise out
of poverty.
We have published several articles by
Ekwe, and about a year ago he invited us to
partner with him to help achieve his dream.
Perhaps you’ve read some of his material
but, if you haven’t, here’s a summary.
Background
“Acute malnutrition is reported to kill
no fewer than 500,000 Nigerian children
under the age of five annually, out of over a
million of them that suffer the condition every year. This was disclosed by the Deputy
Director and Head of Nutrition Division of
the Federal Ministry on Health at the 31st
National Scientific Conference organized by
the Association of Public Health Physicians
of Nigeria. Over the last decade, it has risen
from 11% to 18% in 2013.
You will agree with me that we are indeed faced with a national challenge. This is
worsened by the fact that nearly four out of
five Nigerian children do not meet the WHO
How Donations Will be Used
Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
Founder of the Milk Basket NGO
recommendation for exclusive breastfeeding
during the first six months of life.
“I am currently working on an NGO
called Milk Basket here. We will donate milk
to malnourished children all over Nigeria, especially in the interior river-rine areas of Nigeria. Our motto is “Donate a tin of milk to a
malnourished child in Africa today.”
Proposed Itinerary
Both Ekwe and I have applied for scholarships to attend an Anti-Hunger Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. from February
28 to March 1. We will also visit Action Africa in Washington and The Hunger Project
in New York City.
Since Ekwe has a small farm and wants to
use his knowledge of agriculture and nutrition to further his goals, we will visit Genesis Farm in New Jersey where they have
a successful Community Supported Agriculture program with over 300 subscribers. We are currently investigating low-cost
seminars through the Penn State Extension
First, Ekwe needs to raise money for his
flight. Once here, I will be driving him wherever he needs to go; therefore, we will need
gas money. He wants to prepare a Power
Point program to show when he gets here,
but lacks the funds for traveling to the Niger Delta area. Although he works full time,
he only earns $70 a month and sometimes
doesn’t even get paid. Hospitality here has
been offered so lodging costs will be minimal. Some of the conferences and seminars
that will further the goals of the Milk Basket
have fees and we will need funding to attend
those.
I hope to learn as much as I can during
this visit so that The Go-Back Club will be
an effective partner. It’s going to be a busy
couple of weeks but we both hope that this
effort will help launch the project with serious backing from our friends in America.
How to Make Your Donation
I recently opened a bank account to receive gifts for the Milk Basket. You may
make a check or money order payable to
Milk Basket and mail it to me at 21431 Marlin Circle, Shade Gap, Pennsylvania 17255.
Thank you for opening your hearts during this busy holiday season.
Editor’s Note: Ekwe was unable to get a
visa to come to the United States so I am
going there and am currently trying to earn
enough money for the opportunity to meet
each other and collaborate.
Please see photos that go with this article on the next page.
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 7
Photos by Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
Here are pictures of some of our
charity activities during my service year.
Top left: Zenox leased out 10 pieces
of small, green laptops to the Charity
group to help enlighten kids and show
them the very importance of going
to school. The laptops were returned
afterwards.
Top right: We donated 30 pieces of
sandals to children who go to school on
bare foot. There are still more kids who
still don’t own sandals.
Middle left: Kids cutting cassava instead of going to school.
Middle right: A child bathing in the
very dirty water very close to my house.
Bottom left: I was going to teach under
the rain and took the picture of the
people running in front of me.
I think thats all I have from my
service. I lost my phone afterwards and
don’t have the rest of our activities on
this phone.
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 8
Nigerian children hug the mosquito nets they received recently in Orlu on the outskirts of Owerri. The Milk Basket has arranged to deliver 45 nets on Valentine’s Day
to children in the Niger Delta. Hopes are high that more money will come in to purchase additional nets before then. (Photo: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles)
Milk Basket/GBC Partnership:
Help Roll Back Malaria with Nets on Valentine’s Day
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles: Owerri, Nigeria
Published February 2016: www.gobackclub.org.
Valentine’s Day, also known as Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,
is a celebration observed on February 14th
each year.
It is celebrated in many countries around
the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them. But it’s not just the romantic kind of love; love can be expressed
in numerous ways. It could be helping the
poor, clothing the naked, giving alms to
the homeless, and so many other countless
charity works.
The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in
the High Middle Ages, when the tradition
of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century
England, it evolved into an occasion in
which lovers expressed their love for each
other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known
as “Valentines”).
In Europe, Saint Valentine’s Keys are
given to lovers “as a romantic symbol and
an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart,” as
well as to children, in order to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine’s Malady).
Valentine’s Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves,
and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since
the 19th century, hand-written Valentines
have given way to mass-produced greeting
cards.
It’s Valentine’s Day coming up by February 14th and the Milk Basket is going to be
showing love to kids in a creek community
in Niger Delta. We have only got 43 pieces
of nets now but will surely need more nets
to cover more communities.
You can help make a difference by just donating $10 to ensure a safe future for these
children. Lets show love to someone, somewhere today.
Other donations like books, toys, milk,
and clothing items are highly welcome and
will be most gratefully appreciated.
Thank you All.
Learn more about the Milk Basket and
donate whatever you can spare to help buy
more mosquito nets at:
•www.milkbasketng.com
•https://www.facebook.com/Milk-Basket-1634451933482330/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel&__mref=message_bubble
•https://angel.co/milk-basket
•https://www.fundraise.com/ekwecharles/milk-basket
Our Mission
Saving Lives
Clean Drinking Water
Adequate Nutrition
Roll Back Malaria
Building Futures
Education
Violence Prevention
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 9
“Imagine yourself in his shoes.” (Credit: https://www.facebook.com/Milk-Basket-1634451933482330/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel&__mref=message_bubble).
Update on Milk Basket-GBC Partnership
By Iona
Published March 2016: see www.gobackclub.org.
Today (February 18) Ekwe Chiwundu
Charles is selling his laptop to help pay the
huge bribe that he needs to hand over in order to get his visa to come here. He has told
me many times how corrupt his country is
but this is worse than I had imagined.
Even though Ekwe is employed in a miserable job, he only earns $70 a month and
they often have to tangle with the company
just to be paid. At the moment, he is owed
two months back wages. It’s really tough
over there.
Ekwe may even need to sell his phone in
order to get to the United States so that we
can meet each other and work together for
a week or two learning more about how to
make our dreams come true of helping the
starving and malnourished children in the
Niger Delta. This is the area where he spent
a year after graduating from college with
his Bachelors degree in Food Science and
Technology. That experience made a lasting
impression on his heart and he started the
Milk Basket in 2011.
Ekwe received one generous donation
recently and bought 45 treated mosquito
nets to deliver to the Niger Delta children
as part of the nationwide Roll Back Malaria
campaign. They have arrived at his home in
Owerri but he doesn’t have anough money
to travel to that area to deliver them yet.
For those of you who haven’t see Ekwe’s
previous articles, his dream is to provide
canned milk and clean drinking water to
these children. As time goes by, he also
hopes to build libraries so that the young
people (as well as adults) can be educated
and rise out of poverty.
We have published several articles by
Ekwe, and about a year ago he invited us to
partner with him to help achieve his dream.
Please go to www.gobackclub.org to read
other articles about our partnership.
Here are three fundraising sites Ekwe created for donations:
https://www.facebook.com/Milk-Basket1634451933482330/?ref=aymt_homepage_
panel&__mref=message_bubble
https://angel.co/milk-basket
https://w w w.f undrais e.com/ekwecharles/milk-basket
Website: www.milkbasketng.com
Research: https://independent.academia.
edu/EkweCharles.
I also opened a local bank account for
this project so, if you prefer, you may make
a check payable to “Milk Basket” and mail
it to me at 21431 Marlin Circle, Shade Gap,
Pennsylvania 17255.
Thanks so much for helping this partnership flourish.
Our Mission
Saving Lives
Clean Drinking Water
Adequate Nutrition
Roll Back Malaria
Building Futures
Education
Violence Prevention
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 10
Milk Basket NGO/GBC Partnership
Beautiful new website ready: http://milkbasketng.com/
Looking for Partners, Sponsors, and Volunteers
Proposal for Peak Milk Company to help supply milk and educational
materials to primary school pupils in Odi community, Bayelsa State
Published Summer
gobackclub.org
2016:
see
www.
Founder: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
(Nigeria); 234-81600-29731; chibyzaps@
gmail.com, [email protected]
Websites:
www.milkbasketng.com;
www.facebook.com/milk
basketngo;
https://angel.co/milk-basket;
https://
www.fundraise.com/ekwe-charles/milkbasket; https://independent.academia.edu/
EkweCharles.
Partner: Iona Conner, Go-Back Club
(United States), 814-515-3809; www.
gobackclub.org; [email protected]
Introduction: Quality Education
provided by trained and supported teachers
is the right of every child in the world.
Quality Education influences what children
learn, how they learn, and what benefits
they draw from it, especially for children
in militancy-prone communities. Children
here end up in a life of crime because there
is no encouragement for those who can’t
afford necessary educational materials to
help acquire a meaningful education, which
will help these children drift away from the
criminal lifestyle.
Even though the government has tried to
improve the educational situation of such
communities, they have failed to touch
very crucial areas that help shape a child’s
thinking towards education.
I can state that 11 out of 20 pupils in a
Niger Delta class come to school on bare
feet, without school bags; some are so poor
they can’t afford to buy writing materials
for basic activities in the classroom. The
militancy in the Niger Delta is a result of
shared neglect by the government of the
grassroots level of education, which is the
Primary and Secondary school.
Goal: Our primary goal is to develop the
best outreach and create program practices,
which will help fill the gaps in education and
food service for millions of children living
in the creek communities in the highlypolluted and poverty-stricken Niger Delta.
Peak Milk Partnership: If Peak Milk
partners with us and supplies milk and
educational materials, we would like to
see the Peak logo on those items which the
company supplies. When our program is
developed enough to start a library, we will
consider naming it Peak Progress Library or
a mutually-agreeable name. Materials will
include school bags, sandals, pencils, erasers,
and exercise books, which will be given
out to pupils who do well in our spelling
competitions, quizzes, and mathematics
competitions to show your support for
quality education and to encourage parents
to ensure that their children are present at
school in the underdeveloped communities
of the Niger Delta.
Peak can also help by supplying milk to
these children. In addition to being a good
source of high-quality protein, milk offers
eight other essential nutrients, including
calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, which
are three of the four nutrients most human
beings, including children, are most likely
missing in their diets.
It’s important for kids to get protein at
every meal, especially breakfast. Getting
enough protein in the morning can help
kids feel fuller, longer, so they can start the
day off right. Beyond helping the body build
and repair lean muscle, protein also impacts
many different functions in growing bodies.
For example, protein works together with
key bone-building nutrients like calcium
and vitamin D to help build healthy bones.
Each 8-ounce serving of milk provides
8 grams of high-quality, natural protein.
Milk is a complete protein, which means
that every glass contains a full mix of the
essential amino acids our bodies need. With
nine essential nutrients in each 8-ounce
glass, milk is a delicious and simple way to
give kids a natural source of high-quality
protein plus other nutrients they need.
Partners and Sponsors: We have a
few but very helpful partners in the United
States (The Go Back Club) and in Nigeria
(The Legion of Mary, The Bioresources
Milk Basket continued on next page
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 11
About the Milk Basket
From Our Facebook Page
The Niger Delta Region produces the oil
wealth that accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s
foreign earnings. Paradoxically, however,
these vast revenues from an international
industry have barely touched the Niger
Delta’s own pervasive local poverty. The
Niger Delta region today is a place of
frustrated expectations and deep-rooted
mistrust.
Unprecedented restiveness at times erupts
inviolence. Long years of neglect and conflict
have fostered a siege mentality, specifically
among youths who feel they are condemned
to a future without hope and see conflict as
a strategy to escape deprivation. Persisting
conflict, while in part a response to poor
human development, has also entrenched it,
serving as a consistent drag on the region’s
economic performance and expectations for
development.
While turmoil in the Delta has many
sources and motivations, the preeminent
underlying cause is the historical failure
of governance at all levels. Declining
economic performance leading to rising
unemployment or underemployment,
the lack of access to basic necessities of
life like water, shelter, food, and clothing,
discriminatory policies that deny access to
positions of authority and prevent people
Life in the Creek communities. (Photo: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles)
from participating in shaping the rules that
govern their lives—these all indicate that
governance over time has fallen short of the
people’s expectations.
Who is to blame?
Instead of asking questions we decided to
start making changes in our own little way.
To change this ugly trend, we have put in
place appropriate measures that will help
alleviate the suffering of the Niger Delta
people.
For children everywhere, education is the
best hope for breaking free from poverty.
Yet even school supplies are hard to come by
for the millions of children whose families
struggle to eat and live in underdeveloped
communities in Nigeria.
positive media attention for your association
with the Milk Basket NGO. For example,
we will be partnering with The Nigerian
Institute of Food Science and Technology,
creating healthy food formulas for children
in underdeveloped creek communities to
enable them stay healthy and in school.
Plan of Action: The Milk Basket will
start its first project in Odi, Bayelsa State,
where Milk Basket founder, Ekwe Chiwundu
Charles, spent a year after his graduation
from college. Ekwe’s heart was so touched by
the children that he started the Milk Basket
in 2011 and has held onto the dream of
returning to carry out the mission and goals
of the Milk Basket.
Odi was the scene of a violent massacre in
1999 when thousands of innocent civilians
were brutally murdered. The community is
trying to rebuild itself and regain normality
and a sense of security in their lives.
Agriculture is another important aspect
of self-sufficiency, which the Milk Basket
will encourage. With my education in Food
Science and Technology and attendance
at the Nigerian Institute of Food Science
and Technology conferences (which have
impacted positively on my experience
and work on my small farm), I am well
prepared to start organic community
gardens, selecting the most nutritious foods,
and teaching others how to do subsistence
farming. Everyone can be involved in this
part of our program.
Food fortification is a recognized
approach to supply vitamins and minerals
to needed populations in underdeveloped
communities, and the current global strategy
in food formulation includes formulations of
protein-rich mixtures from locally-available
foodstuffs that complement each other. This
can be achieved by focusing on agriculture
and food processing done close to home.
The Milk Basket will employ a few hands
that will help in the distribution of milk
and educational materials and will also
report back to Peak Milk after the Spelling
Bee competitions and other significant
achievements or events. The Milk Basket
will also provide cash prizes for the 1st- to
3rd-place winners in the competitions.
Milk Basket continued from previous page
Development Center Odi, The Millenium
Development Goals, The Nigerian Institute
of Food Science and Technology, The
Charity and Gender NYSC Community
Development Service, The Nigerian Red
Cross, and Brodas Across Nigeria), who
are all in support of this project and feel
the need of encouraging children in those
neglected, under-resourced communities. A
tin of Peak Milk will help a child stay healthy
and in school. We can partner in making a
child’s life easier by donating sandals because
many children walk miles barefoot to get to
school.
Iona Conner is a former first-grade
teacher and the founder of The Go-Back
Club, who wants the children to also have
fun and develop eye-hand coordination.
Balls and other educational toys are amazing
tools to achieve these additional goals when
children are young, so that learning to read
and write will be easier for them later on. It
will also be important to encourage mothers
of newborn infants to nurse their babies for
the first six months of life.
Our Request: We would like to ask that
you consider becoming one of our Corporate
Sponsors. As a sponsor, you will receive
Thank you and God bless,
Ekwe Chiwundu Charles
Founder, Milk Basket NGO
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 12
Milk Basket NGO/GBC Partnership
A Plea and a Plan to End Poverty
By Ekwe Chiwundu Charles, Nigeria
Published Late Summer 2016: see www.
gobackclub.org.
Young children are creative and curious
creatures. The future of education requires
us to tap into this curiosity to inspire
the next generation of problem solvers,
collaborators, and critical thinkers.
And we know the first 1,000 days of a
child’s education are the most important.
How can primary and secondary schools
prepare the next generation of problem
solvers, collaborators, and critical thinkers—
especially in communities where no one
cares?
Researchers have found that poverty
can harm the brains of small children.
Children from low-income families had a
brain surface area on average six percent
smaller than that of children in highincome families. Jack Shonkoff, from the
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
says neuroscience shows us the opportunity
where we can make a big difference for poor
children.
What can we do to change the cycle of
poverty? A wide body of research shows
teaching poor parents to stimulate their
children can have significant, long-term
impact on the kids’ earning power.
We can’t solve the rich-poor gap with
school. We have to solve it with family.
For children everywhere, education is the
best hope for breaking free from poverty.
Yet even school supplies are hard to come by
for the millions of children whose families
struggle to eat and live in underdeveloped
communities in Nigeria.
The time has come to challenge poverty
to a fight to the finish. Enough of the
harassment, intimidation, and fear! You
have a score to settle with lack, poverty,
and want, and it is a war that you will win!
This requires using the right weapons to
prosecute it, so permit me to share what you
Children in the oil-rich Niger Delta area of Nigeria suffer from severe poverty. The Milk Basket/
GBC partnership is helping them. Will you help, too? (Photo: Ekwe Chiwundu Charles)
can use to eliminate poverty.
If there’s one war you must wage in order
to live a good life, it’s the war against poverty.
We need to create long-term solutions to
overcome poverty and hunger that are
science backed. We all have to help people
grow their own food and help make farming
profitable in interior communities.
This can be achieved by providing better
farming technologies and techniques,
affordable processing equipment, better
linkages to markets to sell the products,
helping build new agribusinesses, and
more. Special emphasis should be given to
women in the programs to build job options
and to empower them in decision making.
Livelihood options for the youth are also
important to ensure long-term growth.
This is a time of difficult and dangerous
conditions. You should not be seduced into
struggling, striving, or seeking solutions
through aggressive action. Success is met
only by waiting modestly for the guidance
of the Creative.
This is why we have to start changing
the way children think about education by
helping them get comfortable in the school
environment.
Help could be in the form of educational
materials and extra moral classes, it could
be art and drama classes to help kids learn
new things every day. These programs will
improve the child’s thinking about his/her
country, therefore bringing an everlasting
end to the militancy in Nigeria.
Please check the beautiful Milk Basket
website to learn more about Ekwe’s work:
http://milkbasketng.com or contact him
directly at [email protected] or
011-234-81600-29731 in Nigeria. We
are looking for partners, sponsors, volunteers, and donors. You will see that these
children’s needs are great but the supplies
are minimal. Any donation, large or small,
will go a long way in helping these young
people become good citizens.
ENOUGH OF THIS INJUSTICE
WWW.NIGERDELTAAVENGERS.ORG
Since the day crude oil was discovered in
commercial quantity and quality in Oloibiri
(present-day Bayelsa State), what we have
being asking from successive governments
in Nigeria is potable drinking water in the
midst of plenty of water mass, electricity,
roads, employment, quality education/
educational facilities, resource control,
participation in the oil business, and
inclusive governance that will engender
substantial freedom.
The reverse has been the case—from
Oloibiri, Brass LNLG and export terminals
in Bayelsa; Bonny LNLG and export
terminals in River State; ExxonMobil in
Akwa Ibom; Escravos EGTL/Tankfarm and
export terminals; and Forcados Tankfarm
and export terminals in Delta State operated
respectively by Anglo-Dutch Shell, Chevron/
Texaco Overseas, Agip ENI, ExxonMobil.
The history of the communal lives is
terror, poverty, inhumanity, and desolate
living conditions. But when you move into
Injustice continued on next page
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 13
Injustice continued from previous page
facilities operated by the Multinational Oil
Corporations, they are living like Kings and
Presidents.
For over five decades, we have given
Multinational Oil Corporations and their
collaborator (the Nigerian State) peace,
cooperation, and love, for crude oil to flow
unhindered from our land. The continuous
tranquility is only manifesting in the
development of mountains, rock, valleys,
deserts, and lagoons, but the Niger Delta
territory continually is alienated from all
types of development and all essence of
quality human life, while all successive
governments worship the crude oil taken
from the region. Our communities and
the people are only good at securing the
pipelines, oil and gas facilities. What a
tragedy!
We are calling on the international
community, especially Britain, France, the
United State of America, Russia, China,
and the European Union to speak up
against this ongoing terror and come to
the aid of the Niger Delta, as witnesses to
this grave inhumanity and history of terror
perpetuated against the people of the Niger
Delta daily.
This history of terror, we the Niger Delta
Avengers will resist and correct with every
means necessary. We have nothing to loose
in the battles ahead; justice, they say, is
only found within the structure of a nation
state. Rather than provide this justice,
the Nigerian government has decided to
mobilize her military might to intimidate,
torture, maim, victimize, and bombard a
section of the nation state and her citizenry
to allow the free flow of our oil.
Some persons, groups, and commentators
may ask, “What do the people of Niger
Delta want?” We are not like some of these
personalities who run champagne parties
or turn Rivers State Government House
into a house patrimony of god-sons and
prebendalism [cronyism and corruption].
They say the progress and success
of a nation state is the reflection of her
constitution that is not manufactured to
favor some section and exclude the yearning
and aspirations of others; but the indwelling
spiritual and historical development of its
people.
Since the amalgamation of Nigeria in
1914 to date, our resources have been used
to sustain the political administrative live
wire of Nigeria to the exclusion of the Niger
Delta.
Finally, we are calling on the international
community to come and support the
restoration of our right to peaceful selfdetermination from this tragedy of 1914
that has expired since 2014. We want our
resources back, to restore the essence of
human life in our region for generations to
come because Nigeria has failed to do that.
The world should not wait until we go the
Sudan ways. Enough is enough
God Bless Niger Delta People.
Brigadier General Mudoch Agbinibo
Spokesperson
[map: http://www.diercke.com/]
“Donate a tin of milk to a
malnourished child in Africa today.”
Imagine being born into a community
that is located in the creeks of a river;
imagine living without electricity, hospitals,
clean water, good schools and libraries,
good roads, and good food. People here are
so poor they only eat what they get from
their farms.
Life in this part of the world should be
referred to as modern slavery, you need to
witness the struggle first-hand for you to
understand. If you have ever been through
poverty and hardship, then you can surely
feel their hunger and pains.
You don’t need a college degree to know
that people from very poor backgrounds
will do anything for money, from crude oil
theft, pipe line destruction, sea piracy, and
armed robbery to kidnapping.
Who’s Fault?
Even if you lock them down and throw
away the keys you only create more
monsters.
I believe it’s high time we all start making
a change no matter how small. You can make
much difference today by encouraging a
child today in one of those neglected, underresourced communities in the creeks.
You may make a donation via Western
Union to Ekwe (first name) Chiwundu
(middle name) Charles (last name), Nigeria
or you may also make a check or money
order payable to “Milk Basket” and mail
it c/o Iona Conner, 21431 Marlin Circle,
Shade Gap, Pennsylvania 17255 or PayPal
adn sign in with [email protected].
Thank you so much!
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 14
Human Vulnerability to
Environmental Change in Africa
“We spotted her just in time,”
the medic said. And following
her three-day ordeal,
Sofia said: “I’m so happy.”
The mother and baby are
rescued but thousands of others
remain stranded
on roofs and in trees.
(Subheadline, Herald Tribune,
March 2, 2000)
United Nations Environment Programme
Africa Environment Outlook, Chapter 3
Introduction
Three decades ago [now almost five
decades ago], the international community
adopted the Stockholm Declaration,
following the Stockholm Conference on
the Human Environment. Principle 1
of the Declaration highlighted a healthy
environment as a fundamental human
right, explicitly stating: “Man [sic] has the
fundamental right to freedom, equality,
and adequate conditions of life in an
environment of a quality that permits a
life of dignity and well-being, and he bears
a solemn responsibility to protect and
improve the environment for present and
future generations . . .”
Since then, the Organization of African
Unity (OAU) African Charter on Human
and People’s Rights, and dozens of relatively
new African national constitutions, have
enshrined a healthy environment as a
fundamental human right.
Of particular interest to Africa in
the Stockholm Declaration was the
condemnation in Principle 1 of apartheid,
racial segregation, discrimination, colonial,
and other forms of oppression, and foreign
domination. While these socio-political
issues have virtually been eliminated in the
region, the environmental objectives have
been compromised in many ways.
Over the past 30 [50] years, the environment
in Africa has continued to deteriorate,
resulting in environmental change which
Sofia Pedro gave birth to a little girl in a tree after escaping rising floodwaters in her home country
of Mozambique in 2000. (Photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/662472.stm)
is making more and more people in the
region vulnerable due to increased risk
and inadequate coping capability. Such
deterioration has been acknowledged at
various fora, and the World Commission on
Environment and Development (WCED)
reported in 1987: “Today, many regions face
risks of irreversible damage to the human
environment that threaten the basis for
human progress.”
Human vulnerability to environmental
change is complex. It may, in fact, be as
complex as ecological processes, where
some cause and effect linkages are still
not fully understood despite centuries of
scientific research. Human vulnerability
to environmental change has global, local,
social, and economic dimensions. It is not
synonymous with disasters, even though
such events generate more public awareness
and response, and media interest.
The advocates of sustainable development
have not yet succeeded in raising
environmental concerns to a high priority
in all countries. The perception remains
in some quarters that environmental
protection is something that can and
should be addressed only when a country is
rich enough to do so, and that it is a “low
rate of return” activity. Yet the evidence
is mounting that local environmental
destruction can accelerate the poverty
spiral, not only for future generations, but
even for today’s population. It is obvious
that countries which recklessly deplete their
natural resources are destroying the basis of
prosperity for future generations, but few
policy makers have been able to persuade
their constituents that, as forest disappear
and water is exhausted or polluted, it is
the poor of today, especially children and
women, who suffer most.
Woman Gives Birth in Tree
Following Flood Disaster
Sofia Pedro made world headlines in
March 2000, when she gave birth to a
daughter in a tree as the furious and raging
waters of the flooded Limpopo River gushed
below, laying to waste surrounding areas
and devastating the lives of hundreds of
thousands of her Mozambican compatriots.
The Mozambican floods killed 700 people
and left millions more homeless.
Perhaps the birth of Sofia Pedro’s
daughter—Rosita Pedro—brought to reality
the juxtaposition of the birth of a new
human life and the death of others, and the
struggle humanity faces today in dealing
with the challenges of a merciless, changed
environment whose devastation grows in
intensity and impact.
Often, the impact of episodes such as the
Mozambican floods in early 2000 is hidden
behind a string of statistics: the infrastructure
Go-Back Club/Milk Basket Partnership: Page 15
In a dramatic rescue, airforce medic Godfrey Nengovhela was lowered from a helicopter to the tree to help the 26-year-old deliver her baby and cut the
umbilical cord before winching them both to safety. (Photo credits: Left: cracked.com “5 Craziest Places to Give Birth;” Center and Right: http://news.
bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/662472.stm; Bottom: www.mirror.co.uk)
destroyed, the habitats lost, and the damage caused. As
the news headlines bombard people with such figures,
the human face is lost, reducing people to a footnote of
another disaster event. However, Sofia Pedro refused to
be a footnote of that devastating episode of nature in
Mozambique, but a living symbol of the human spirit
and resilience in the storm of an increasingly unforgiving
hostile environment, which has changed dramatically
over the past three [five] decades.
In those swift-flowing, muddy waters below her were
many people who were not so lucky. There were also
deadly snakes, wild animals, livestock, and tons of soil
on which millions of people in the Limpopo River basin
depended for agriculture and food security. A way of
life was swept away to the Indian Ocean to be drowned
under masses of water. Left behind was human misery
and people whose resilience had been compromised.
Sofia Pedro’s story not only exemplifies just how
people have become more vulnerable to environmental
change, but also that ultimately disasters have the
greatest impact on the personal level. Her story has
been played out countless times since time immemorial
in different regions, countries, communities, and
homes. Many Sofia Pedros have been rescued in floods,
droughts, earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches—but
even more have perished and continue to do so.
The threats to human life today lurk in sudden and
intense events such as earthquakes and landslides, and
also in more insidious and slow-setting events such as
droughts, ozone layer depletion, and global warming.
Long after the devastation of the Mozambican floods,
Sofia Pedro’s story lingers in the mind—a constant
reference point not only of the fury of a river in flood,
but also of the increased frequency and intensity with
which the environment can unleash such terror.
Note from the Editor: Imagine yourself in this position.
Clearly there is more widespread flooding due to climate
change these days and it is much more severe than in
2000. Some of us are very safe; others are very vulnerable.
Please open your heart to the vulnerable ones.