Mauritania: another summer, another suitcase

I have mentally revised the list: fresh clothes, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, a camera, a jacket and sandals… Yes it seems that is all.

Here’s another summer with another suitcase, a new journey, another country but in the same continent. This year we are heading to Africa again. Last year it was Kenya, this year Mauritania.

Two countries, two regions and the same recurring problem year after year: lack of rain and harvest with increasing prices and hunger.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger have a total of more than 18 million people affected and more than a million children at risk of malnutrition.

The scale of this food crisis is huge, according to the figures and numbers.

Our suitcases are full of materials for our colleagues in Mauritania but we will also come back with our suitcases even fuller in the shape of names, faces and sad stories.

There will be so many stories that we’ll have to sit on them to close them, as we do now, a few hours before boarding.

Next destination: Nouakchott