While we say a picture says more than a thousand words, we often forget to tell the story behind it…

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Ever since the beginning of July when the bush turned green, …Nature’s Pantry in the Zinder area has been providing food for free for anyone who would like to harvest. There’s no place I can ride to, without stumbling upon people out in the fields, busy harvesting valuable leafy annuals that will be consumed within [...]

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William Easterly, professor of Economics at the New York university, recently posted a piece entitled “Famine Cover-Ups vs. Fake Famines”. The Famine Scam that took place in Niger in 2005 is one of the two examples mentioned in this piece. Although the tone is politically correct, it raises a few questions on the controversial subject [...]

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Copyright Eden Foundation (2009) While heading up to the field station recently, the Eden research team drove past a number of people working by the roadside. Copyright Eden Foundation (2009) They were digging away sand that had accumulated by the roadside; a job that is normally carried out by bulldozers. Copyright Eden Foundation (2009) The [...]

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I keep thinking of the image we see of Africa. Of the poverty, the misery and the constant hand that reaches for the charitable gift it is about to receive. And I wonder why there is no balance. For the Africa I see here in the West, is not the Africa I know. For more [...]

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“That is not the reality that I have seen,” Esther Garvi (The Famine Scam) The Norwegian documentary The Famine Scam recently received the top Norwegian journalism award for its “extensive research” and “critique of power”. Here is a translation of the article entitled “Critique of Power”, published by Journalisten on May 6th 2009. Award for [...]

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If you happened to miss the Niger famine drama that took place in 2004-05 on International Television, you can now watch the documentary about it, entitled The Famine Scam, on YouTube. The Famine Scam (2008) The main protagonists in this story involve 1 – The Media (in particular, the BBC) who claimed that one third [...]

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The Famine Scam (2008) – as the outside world remembers Niger in 2005 A documentary broadcast on Swedish public television on Tuesday called into question the reputation of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, for filing misleading and inaccurate reports about the severity of a food shortage in Niger in 2005. The SVT report showcased efforts [...]

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The world is still in awe of the historical elections that took place on November 4th 2008, when the first coloured man ever was elected president of the United States of America. According to the experts, this would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. NEW YORK: Barack Obama was elected the 44th president [...]

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I recently stumbled upon a chronicle entitled Let My People Go, AIDS Profiteers, written by Sam L. Ruteikara, co-chair of Uganda’s National AIDS-Prevention Committee. It’s an interesting read because it is one of those times when “Africa answers back”, but at the same time, it is a heartbreaking read, because it is yet another example [...]

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The first news agency to write about the Niger Famine Scam (in December 2005) was Der Spiegel. Their article was recently published on the Internet, and what follows is a rough translation. Should you prefer to read the original German version, just click on the image below: The Desert Garden of Eden Global Village: In [...]

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During the heat of the crisis, the local Swedish newspaper Hallands Nyheter interviewed me about The Famine Scam and wrote an article about it, which was recently added to the web. Published on March 5th, the article is entitled Falkenbergare kritiska till bilden av svält i Niger. For all those who do not understand Swedish, [...]

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As most of you already know by now, Mirriah is one of my favourite places in Niger. It is an old village with an ancient heritage, rich in century old Baobab trees and known for its vegetable gardens. Situated 20km from Zinder, it is a place I love to go to for a Sunday excursion, [...]

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I just read a BBC article where a large aid organization (in this case, Care International) still refers to the Niger Famine Scam as valid information. In my heart, I will never be able to understand the aid industry, but if I follow its logic, here are some lessons to be learned: Assume that all [...]

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Cash handouts – the solution for West Africa or another way of keeping the aid circus running? IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks), which is part of the UN but supposedly editorially independent, recently published an article about aid and cash handouts, entitled “West Africa: Do high food prices warrant a cash response?” Experts say many [...]

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