Parenting in extreme circumstances: ‘It’s a harrowing cycle many are stuck in’

Picture a world where your children face hunger every day, where life is put on hold because of conflict. It’s a world where parents go to extraordinary lengths just to keep their children alive.

Today, conflict and climate change are the biggest drivers of hunger across the globe.

Russell Gates, Concern Worldwide’s regional director of Central Africa and Haiti says there has never been a food insecurity crisis like the one we’re facing at the moment. His region spans around 158 million people and includes such countries as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda. His teams are on the ground in some of the hungriest countries in the world today.

Concern works with millions of parents each year, in the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Many are raising children against a backdrop of conflict and climate change. This pushes more and more families to the brink of hunger, leaving parents to make impossible choices just to keep their children alive. But these crises are not getting the attention they should, says Gates.

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Those hardest hit are children

Conflict and climate change are forcing families to leave their homes to make their way to safety. It is at this point that parents and their children often face the starkest threat of hunger.

In Somalia, *Ali, a father of seven, travelled 400km with little food or water to get help for his malnourished child.

Driven from their village by conflict and a lack of rainfall over five consecutive rainy seasons, his son *Jama, aged 13-months, was severely malnourished when the team at Concern first met him at an internally displaced camp. After a three-month programme of nutritionally therapeutic food he is now at a stable weight for his age.

This, Gates says, is just one example of how conflict is exacerbating the hunger crisis.

“Keeping children safe as they cross countries is harrowing as there is often not enough food to go around. Time and time again in our programmes we see parents who skip meals sometimes for days on end to ensure their children are fed. It’s one of the things common to parents in every country we work in,” Gates says.

In the DRC grandmother Caustasie (64) is the sole caregiver to her two grandchildren. four-year-old *Gloria and toddler *Emmanuel. They fled their village due to conflict and this caused *Emmanuel to become malnourished.

“They had to journey to another village, with Caustasie having to carry her grandson in her arms. By the time they came to our health centre for treatment he was severely malnourished,” Gates recalls.

“It takes months to recover from severe acute malnutrition. The family had to stay put for the duration. This prevented her from being free to find work to earn money to buy food to support her other grandchild. This is just one of the everyday dilemmas that families face.”

To maintain dignity, independence and support local markets, in such cases Concern often supports families with cash transfers that ensure parents and children will not go hungry, Gates adds.

The impact of climate change

In addition to conflict, many parents also face the devastation that climate change is having on their families and communities.

Earlier this year, Cyclone Freddy devastated parts of Malawi, killing more than 500 people and displacing more than half a million.

“We work with households affected by extreme poverty, supporting them to become self-sufficient. But Malawi has been struck by four major cyclones in two years, which has undermined everything. Around 70 per cent of the work we have done there has been undone. In many cases their home, fields, crops and livestock are all gone, completely devastated,” Gates says.

For such parents, it’s a waiting game, waiting for conflict to end, waiting for the rains to come.

Having worked hard to provide for their children, it is devastating to see it swept away by forces beyond their control, Gates explains. “It leaves them with nothing. They have to start all over again. It’s a harrowing cycle many are stuck in as a result of climate change.”

Gates credits the Irish public’s response to Cyclone Freddy with enabling Concern to quickly distribute essential supplies such as tents, blankets and buckets. It also distributes food, seeds and tools. “So it’s a complete package,” he says.

“The Irish people have always generously supported Concern, enabling our team to work with families going to incredible lengths to protect their children. Rising levels of conflict and climate change are driving hunger and extreme poverty. Given the scale of the challenges posed, this support is needed now more than ever.”

To support Concern’s work visit www.concern.net

*Some names have been changed to protect identities