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Editorial

Are they helping others or helping
themselves?

"Every now and tl'ien we go through tl'iis awakening process that really makes us feel used and
maniprilated," a colleague told me the other day. Some time ago the Noi'wegian
work
docunentaiy fihn "Tlie Fainine Scatn" was awarded first pi'ize for its outstaxiding joui'nalistic
on the 'fainiiie" in Niger.
Let us go back to July 2005 when we were confronted witli photos of stai'vit+g children iii Niger. Tlie UN Hunanitai'ian Co-ordinator
in tliose days infon'i'ied joui'nalists that more than 3.5 inillion people were starving to death in Niger. The situation was really bad!
Photos of children were frequently shown on TV, and who corild not be affected by their suffer'mg7 All tlie big hrunanitax'ian
organizations appealed for fiinds and people responded w'llingly.
to the fihn "The Famine Scain", tliere never was a fatnine in Niger! It was, perhaps,
However, was it really as bad as that?Accordiiig
one of those difficult years that tliese cormti'ies go through every now and then, but the situation was not at all tl'ie one described to us.
Tlie govenunent of the counhy protested and said that there was no fainiiie, but its voice was not heard. Film crews went to the so-
called disaster areas several times, but nobody recalls having heard about anybody dying of liunger. If, supposedly, one-tl'md of tlie
population was dyiiig, somebody somewhere should have la'iown somebody who knew somebody...? Ainazingly, nobody had lieard
about anybody dyiiig of hunger. There was one cluld wlio died, but that was from malai'ia.

So, it tui'ns out, the pliotos of the "stai'ving" children were in fact cliildren suffering from malax'ia and other diseases that had notlm'ig
to do with hunger-the disease made them iricapable of eating the food that was provided.
organizations later explaiiied their actions to the Norwegian media. Ill the begiiumg, tliey had beet'i
One of tlie main luunanitarian
appealiiig iii favorir of the malnutrition problem in the coruihy. If you read their press release tbey are taking about "u'gence
nrih'ionnelle" [meaning dietaiy deficiency rather than actual fainine]. They had never spoken aborit "fainine" at all. This affair tnight
be classified under the heading: "Lost in translation". The result was tliat people were misled into tl'g that there was a fitll-scale
food emergency.
On the other liand, those wlio really did sriffer were the local fanners. When hunanitat'ian aid began to an'ive, nobody wanted to pay
for food wlien they could get it for free. Instead of offering a l'ielpiiig liand to one of tlie poorest counhies iit the world, it huned into
anotlxer econoinic disaster!
It recalls that lovely proverb: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." We are not l'iere to judge so-called well-intended acts,
but one may wonder: what are the reasons for this sikiation? Who are tlie winners iii tlns game? What is the iinpact on tlie credibility
of luunanitarian orgaiffzations?
As an old African woman says iii tlie fihn: "My son, tliere are people orit there WIIO talk bad aborit others iii order to lielp, but what
tliey really do is not lielp us but help themselves."
day and invite yori to read the intet'view with Per Cmstian Magnus, one of the
On these gloon'iy thorights, I wish you all a wondeifiil
producers of tliis fihn. (The Famine Scam is now available 077 Youtube)

Marit.