Niger: Hane wants to stop begging and go to school

Since I arrived in Niger nearly a month ago I’ve been hearing so many heartbreaking stories of hardship and poverty, how this last year’s failed harvest is affecting people, and what they’re doing to try and survive until the next harvest.

Many women have told me that they’ve had to send their children out to beg. That’s the only way they can manage to put any food on the table for their family. I just can’t imagine what it must be like as a mother having to ask this of your child. As one mother told me: “Life is tough in Niger. This year is even tougher.”

What really brought tears to my eyes though was listening to seven-year-old Hane tell me about having to leave her home, her friends and school to come to town to beg. She told me: “I’m not happy leaving my friends to come here. I don’t like begging. I hope I’ll be able to go home soon. In the future I don’t want to beg. I’d prefer to study.”

This is the situation for many children in Niger, and as the crisis deepens more children will be forced onto the streets.

We’re providing cash to the poorest families to help them out until the next harvest, so they don’t have to put their children to work or on the streets to beg. But with more than 60% of the population living in severe poverty we need to reach many, many more families. We can only do this with your continued support.

Find out more about how we’re helping families get through the food crisis.

Please donate to our Niger appeal.