10 – Famine threatening six million people

12 Bulgaria – Meat, potatoes Mission East and an education Number 2 / AUTUMN 2011

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Your one Euro is worth seven 2 Contents

4-7 Disaster Risk Reduction 8-9 – Climate changes lead to wilder weather incidents “Excessive rainfall, severe – When storms, and extreme droughts mountains have become more and crumble, women more common and have stand strong the harshest impact on the During the season world's poor. We must act when most disasters right now to prevent and happen in Tajikistan, minimize the impact of these many men are abroad, events – especially those leaving women to take that have devastating effects action themselves. on the world’s most vulne­ rable,” says Mikael Jarnvig, Meteorologist and Mission East Ambassador, in this North Korea 10-11 magazine’s focus on disaster – Famine threatening risk reduction. six million people How did it happen that about one million people died of starvation in North Korea in the nineties? Can we prevent 12-13 such a disaster from happening again soon? Bulgaria – Meat, potatoes and 14-15 an education The opening of a new Pakistan community centre in – Pakistan team goes the extra mile Bulgaria's capital provides Poverty is so profound in Pakistan’s Swat Valley that the elderly with a place staff from Mission East’s partner organisation resorted to satisfy their hunger and youth with an to contributing from their own pockets during a recent opportunity to educate themselves. distribution of aid.

Front page photo: Mission East is a Danish international Head Office in Hellerup, Board A stone wall protects 1,100 aid organisation. We exist to deliver relief Managing Director Dr. Kim Hartzner Chairman Carsten Wredstrøm pupils from the river nearby, and development assistance to vulnerable Communications Director Jesper Holst Karsten Bach which threatens to flood their communities with a primary focus on Eastern Liaison Officer Filip Buff Pedersen Brian Nielsen Europe and Asia. Journalist Tania Rusbjerg Joachim Nisgaard school (in the background) Based on Christian values, Mission East aims Journalist Maria Callesen René Hartzner during the springtime in to support the most vulnerable, making no Bookkeeper Carina Joy Gates Afghanistan racial, political or religious distinction between HR Karsten Hetland Editorial staff those in need. Kim Hartzner Mission East currently operates directly or Mission East Office in Brussels, Belgium Tania Rusbjerg through local partners in Afghanistan, , Operations Director Peter Drummond Smith , North Korea, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Finance Director Marianne Le Floch Production Romania and Bulgaria. Finance Manager Nazik Avagyan Rosendahls, Esbjerg The assistance offered by Mission East is sup­ Information Systems Support Richard ported by a range of private and public donors Peppiette ISSN 0908-2042 such as the Danish Ministry of Foreign Afffairs, Desk Officers Saskia de Smet, European Union and the United Nations. Alex Ramos Peña, Kendrah Jespersen www.miseast.org Mission East has been verified compliant with and Joohi Haleem. the People in Aid Code of Good Practice in the management and support of aid personnel. editorial 3

A stitch in time saves nine It is a normal human In a quote for the news risk of landslides, and helps response to help when we agency Reuters, the EU them to form their own see the huge devastation Commissioner for huma- rescue teams. that results when a tsunami, nitarian aid, Kristalina drought, earthquake or flood Georgieva, suggests that For more than a decade strikes. But this devasta- prevention is simply not as Mission East has deliberately tion can be minimized by quick to grab your attention. ensured that disaster risk prevention measures. So reduction plays an increa- if small amounts of money The World Bank estimates singly important role in our can make a big difference that it costs seven times more projects. And we will conti- through prevention, why do to respond with emergency nue this focus on prevention. we wait until disaster strikes aid – when, for example, Through prevention, we can before we act with empathy floods force people to flee make a lasting difference and generosity? from their homes in Asia – with your support. than it costs to prevent the consequences of the disaster before it occurs. If we work on preventing the devasta- tion that disaster can cause as If small amounts of money we work to help those who can make a big difference are most vulnerable, then we through prevention, why do can make a bigger difference we wait until disaster strikes with our resources. It is for before we act with empathy this reason that Mission and generosity? East helps communities build protection walls and earthquake-proof houses, teaches villagers that cutting down trees will increase the

Dr. Kim Hartzner, Managing Director of Mission East

Photo: Christophe Belperron, Mission East 4 DISASTER RISK REDUCTION Climate changes lead to wilder

weather incidents 89 percent of the total number of natural disaster victims in 2010 was one of the worst community have the will to 2010 lived in Asia. years in two decades in terms do something about it, we can of the number of natural decrease the human contribu- coincidence. We must disasters around the world. tions to climate change, but it prepare ourselves for increas- will take many years to regain ingly “wild” climates around Natural disasters are becom- “the old balance”. the world. Extreme rainfall ing increasingly frequent and deforestation has sig- By Mikael Jarnvig, Some causes we do not know nificantly increased the risk Meteorologist and and strike with such great Mission East strength, that we forget the about, but others have been of more catastrophic floods, Ambassador previous one when the next brought to light by science. mudflows and landslides. occurs. There is a risk that For example, we know that we simply assume that this the still increasing emission While we can make changes

is just how the earth works. of greenhouse gasses (mainly in our lives to limit our CO2

But there is both a cause and CO2) leads to a destabilisa- emissions with hope of slow- a solution. tion of the atmospheric heat ing down the overall trend of balance. It is a scientific fact climate change, we must also Excessive rainfall, severe that the temperature has gone in the meantime, act right storms, and extreme droughts up one degree over the last now to prevent and minimize have become more and 100 years on average around the impact of these events that more common and have the the world. In the Arctic it is are already taking place as a harshest impact on the world's more. One weather record result of the current changes poor; 89 percent of the total after another has been beaten in our climate – especially number of natural disaster in recent years. And there is those that have devastating victims in 2010 lived in Asia. no indication that this could effects on the world’s most If we and the international just be a passing vulnerable.

“It has not always been like this. I have been living in this village for years and a flood had never struck before,” says Sayed Shah, whose home in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province was destroyed by a flood last spring.

“There is a greater risk of floods and landslides in particular. Among other things, overpopulation, overgrazing and deforestation have increased the number and extent of disasters,” says Jonathan Bartolozzi, Mission East’s Province Manager in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province. 5

Risk-reduction by radio

If you turn on your radio song teaches people that they in the mountain villages of should not cut down all the Mission East Nepal, you can hear people trees on a mountainside if contributes to a new singing about natural they want to avoid dangerous publication about disasters. mudslides. Information natural disasters about how to build a good Songs and radio drama protection wall is also being Mission East has recently have taught 80,000 villagers spread. Radio journalists contributed to a new book in the remote mountain have interviewed survivors on disaster risk reduction. areas of Nepal about floods, of recent disasters and shared “Risk Returns”, published mudslides and earthquakes. their stories on air so that by the UN secretariat of Each year these disasters others can learn from their the International Strategy destroy harvests, block experience. for Disaster Reduction, paths, or in the worst cases, gathers a large amount of take the lives of residents of In most of the mountainous international experience on these mountainous areas. regions of Nepal, 70 percent disaster prevention. Mission of the population is illiterate. East contributed a chapter The short melodic jingles that But most people have a small about disaster risk reduction play on the radio are easy to radio which is their way of in the remote mountain remember and remind people gaining new knowledge: in areas of Nepal. about good risk-reduction this case valuable knowledge practices. For example, one about preventing disasters.

With support from Mission East, radio journalists have been able to visit remote villages to interview the villagers about their experi­ ences with natural disasters. 6 DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Your one Euro is worth seven How can your money grow to books or chalk? What good Water moving closer seven times its value? is a pile of rocks for the The school has cost about children, who could buy a 67.000 Euros to build and While you are reading this, large amount of pencils and is located in the province a stone wall is being built in books for the same amount of Badakhshan, where the Afghanistan. Not far from the of money? The explanation is population struggles with an wall is a school where 1,100 very simple and illustrates the increasing number of lands- Afghan girls and boys from kind of work, which increa- lides and floods. In recent three poor villages learn singly is needed in countries years, the nearby river has how to read and write, like Nepal, Tajikistan and “eaten” away more and more The World Bank and where 24 teachers Afghanistan; work that pre- of the bank and the water is estimates that it costs make a living to support vents the massive and tragic moving closer and closer to seven times more to their families. consequences of more and the school. At the same time respond to a natural more natural disasters such the river threatens to flood disaster, than to prevent It is costly to build as mudslides, earthquakes the agricultural fields around its impact through risk the wall. So why does and floods. the school and destroy the reduction. Mission East not spend harvest. the money on school

Right now the water level in the river is low. But next spring when the snow melts in the mountains, the children’s school is at risk of being flooded without the new protection wall, which is pictured here. 7

It was the school’s headmaster who asked Mission East for help to protect the school: “The wall has brought hope to our students and teachers and also to the farmers who own If the water during a spring fields surrounding the school. It is wonderful. We are all so grateful for the protection.” flood reaches the building, the clean-up, rebuilding and replacement of damaged school materials and destro- yed crops will cost several times more than it will cost to build the stone wall which protects against the damages. Not to mention the lives that can be saved.

The World Bank estimates that it costs seven times more to respond to a natural disaster, than to prevent its impact through risk reduc- tion. For every Euro spent to build a wall in Afghanistan the value is multiplied for the school and the fields nearby.

Muhammad Israr from the 6th grade: “My dad helped build the wall. So now our school and playground is safer, and my dad earned money for our family.”

Ayamuddin from School teacher Muhammad Hasan: the 5th grade: “On rainy days parents did not let their “Our school is now a children go to school, because of the risk of good and safe place floods. Now the students can come to school to be. I am happy and and study every day.” grateful.” 8 DISASTER RISK REDUCTION When mountains crumble, women stand strong During the season when Last year this village in the and contains, among other most disasters happen in Zerafshan Valley in Tajikistan things, the family’s important Tajikistan, many men are was hit by the worst mudslide documents. Through its rural abroad, leaving women to in 80 years. Huge masses of disaster risk reduction pro- take action themselves. mud and rocks came crashing gramme (funded largely by By Barbara James (at right), down the mountain, killing the European Commission) Mission East’s Country Director in Tajikistan 40-year old Gulya points away one woman when she tried Mission East has taught her from her house and past the to save her most valuable to be prepared. harvest of apricots that are dry- possession: her only cow. Once the mud starts coming ing on the hard stone ground in, there’s no time to get in the backyard. This is the Inside the house, Gulya has things out of drawers and escape route for her and her hung a plastic bag about two cupboards. For now eve- children if another mudslide metres above the ground. rything is quiet. But Gulya hits the village of Puthrin. It is her emergency bag, feels the pressure. It is her responsibility to save herself, her mother-in-law and her four children when a disaster hits the village.

A village without men Every spring, the village of Puthrin turns into a village of women and children, when nine out of ten men travel to Russia to find work and don’t return home until the winter is near. Meanwhile the snow is melting in the mountains, leaving wives and mothers with a constant fear of floods and landslides. Like her neighbours, Gulya is also alone with her children.

In the past it was only the Educating women to take responsibility village leaders who knew during a natural how to react to a disaster. disaster is a new and Today the women have been necessary approach, trained by Mission East and as the disasters are increasing and the have been taught to go to men are not there to the meeting place, calm each help. 9

For now everything is quiet. But Gulya feels the pressure. It is her responsibility to save herself, her mother-in-law and her four children when a disaster hits the village.

other down and follow the evacuation routes that have been planned amongst the villagers.

“I would prefer to have my husband here. It is a big responsibility to manage alone. But when he is gone "Beware! Mudflow I have to do all I can for my risk zone" reads one of the signs family,” Gulya says. And in which Mission East an area which is extremely has posted in the vulnerable to natural disaster parts of the village she now feels better equip- most at risk for a mudflow. ped to save her own life and the lives of others.

Gulya’s mother-in-law tells about last year’s mudslide that destroyed Water, food and the emergency bag with important several houses in the village. The evacuation routes and the disaster documents are at hand and easy to grab during a quick preparedness training saved the family’s life. evacuation. 10 NORTH KOREA

CHINA Famine threatening North Korea six million people SEA OF JAPAN YELLOW SEA PYONGYANG How did it happen that about the Soviet Union. This close KANGWON one million people died of financial relationship therefore

SOUTH KOREA starvation in North Korea in had huge consequences for the nineties? Can we prevent North Korea when the Soviet Mission East inside such a disaster from hap- Union collapsed at the begin- North Korea pening again soon? ning of the nineties. Trade ceased and agricultural yields Mission East has been The nineties were a dark fell drastically. granted access to North period in North Korean Korea with emergency aid. history. The collapse of the Natural disasters and today’s In June, Managing Director Soviet Union and several situation Kim Hartzner, Operations natural disasters played a In 1995 and 1996, the Director Peter Drummond role in the famine that killed already difficult situation was Smith and Mission East Ambassador Mikael Jarnvig about one million people. worsened by severe floods travelled to North Korea for followed by a drought and the distribution of 52.5 tons Since the birth of the republic, a windstorm in 1997. These of food aid to kindergartens North Korea has tried to be disasters destroyed crops and nurseries in the North self-sufficient. During the Soviet depleting the country’s food Pyongyang Province. This period, however, the agricultu- supply and resulting in a aid is helping keep 3,000 ral sector was highly dependent famine which killed approxi- children alive for 100 days. on materials and cheap oil from mately one million people. While responding to the acute crisis we wish to also help the population avoid these kinds of hunger crises in the future. We wish to help train farmers in the Kangwon Province in agricultural techniques to increase the yield and to provide crops during the yearly ‘hunger gap’ at the beginning of each summer before the new harvest is gathered. A unique opportunity like this to help the population of North Korea requires a great deal of support. See how you can help The land is cultivated by hand and with oxen. Agriculture in North Korea requires innovation to on the back page of the meet the need for food, and Mission East wishes to train farmers in improved techniques. Photos: magazine. Kim Hartzner, Mission East. 11

Food storages are empty. North Koreans must supplement their small daily portion of a bowl of rice with herbs and seaweed.

Today, North Korea is facing a situation much like this grave food shortage in the nineties. Eighty percent of this year’s spring harvest of barley and wheat has failed due to floods and extreme winter cold. In June the authorities lowered the daily ration of rice to 150 grams per adult. This equates to one small bowl of 400 calories, which is only a fifth of what a human being needs.

The UN estimates that ¼ of the North Korean population of approximately 24 million people are in dire need of help. The children Mission East attended to in kindergartens and nurseries in June, had wounds and skin diseases as a result of serious malnutrition: “I’ve never seen children so emaciated, apathetic and affected by hunger”, says Managing Director Kim Hartzner. 12 AfgBULGhanAisRItanA

Meat, potatoes and an education

The opening of a new manage without some addi- community centre in tional assistance. Officially, the Bulgaria's capital provides Roma population represents the elderly with a place to 750,000 people in Bulgaria, satisfy their hunger and but the unofficial estimates youth with an opportunity to site twice as many. This ’unof- educate themselves. ficial’ population lives without any record of their existence

U

A N A dark-haired woman with and therefore has no access ROMANIA DO sunken cheeks and puffy eyes to social services – however is sitting in the social centre's small the benefits may be. SERBIA dining room. Her skin is Bulgaria pale and her hair is thin and On the next floor young SOFIA disheveled. After a long life of people from the ghetto

F. Y. hard work, this is what she is and other impoverished R .O. M left with: a pension so meagre parts of town are offered an TYRKEY GREECE that it is not even adequate to education. Here they can cover her daily meals. learn to become plumbers, electricians or construction When the potatoes The social centre celebrated workers. are gone, the its official opening in June, dishes are empty, and The dream for a hungry bellies are and since then many elderly While the soup kitchen full, those who have community centre people have been queuing for provides the elderly with been served leave the soup kitchen each week. hope for today, a floor up the the soup kitchen with Mission East has worked in a feeling that other Bulgaria since 1997, ten years The Roma population, in next generation embraces a particular, find it difficult to hope for the future. human beings care before the country joined about them. the EU. Together with a local partner, we spent these early years providing food to children on the streets and vulnerable elderly people, and gave children living in institutions the opportunity to go on holiday camps. The idea of a community centre in Sofia from where the local partner could coordinate all of its social support activi­ ties, is a dream from long ago which has finally become a reality. 13

Many defenseless Roma girls are abdu­ cted at a young age, often to be sold into prostitution in coun­ tries in Western Europe. In order to "save" them before that happens, desperate parents rush to marry off their daughters unwillingly at the age of 13.

The average pension in Bulgaria amounts to approximately 60 Euro per month for those who are eligible to receive it.

The children’s smiles hide the sad reality of their uncertain future. In parts of Bulgaria, especially in the ghettos, unemployment rates reach as high as 80 percent.

The workers at the social centre also visit the ghettos and distribute relief to those from the Roma population who are living in poverty. At the same time they inform youth about the opportunities available at the centre for vocational training, computer courses and English lessons. 14 pakistan

Pakistan team goes the extra mile

By Tania Maria Lüders Poverty is so profound Rusbjerg, Mission East in Pakistan's Swat Valley Journalist that staff from Mission East's partner organisation resorted to contributing from their own pockets during a recent distribution of aid. Entering into the Swat Valley, one passes along “I particularly remember narrow fragile one family when I was in trails... Swat Valley last week,” says Nauman Shah, who is the Executive Director of the NGO which Mission East partners with in Pakistan. ”Both children had problems with their joints, and the mother’s disability prevented her from working. There was no one to provide an income. With support from Mission East we gave them a goat and feed among other things, so … traverses they can slowly start to build steep mountain up a life again.” slopes … But seeing the children in their misery, so dirty and still affected by the tragic floods last year, Nauman wanted to do more for the family.

“When I asked them about clothes and soap, they said they didn’t have any. They didn’t even have mattresses to sleep on. My colleagues …and crosses rivers and I reached down into our on small improvised own pockets and gathered bridges. some money so they could 15

“When I asked them about clothes and soap, they said they didn’t have any. They didn’t even have mattresses to sleep on.”

buy two mattresses for the children,” says Nauman. “We complain about the things we have been given, but seeing them made me thank God for his blessings Children are back in school, to me and my family.” but many buildings have been severely damaged. Bridges and roads washed away A year after the floods, which affected nearly 20 million people, those who live in the Swat Valley are still suffering. Bridges and roads have washed away and it is difficult to reach the area with help. There is a need for cows, goats and seeds to help restore agriculture. Schools need to be rebuilt. There are almost no health clinics. And the children need extensive help to recover from their traumas. Mission East and our partner organisation continue to help the despe- rate population in one of Pakistan’s least accessible Meeting the boy and his family made a big impression on Nauman areas. Shah, who is the Executive Director of Mission East’s partner organisation in Pakistan. We need you to help others

Last year Mission East live within Europe, you can With your support, Mission extended urgent relief and also make a donation to us East can continue to trans- long-term development aid by bank transfer for free, as form lives. to more than half a million long as the donation is in people in Eastern Europe Euros and you have some Thank you! and Asia. Our work is only form of electronic banking. possible through donations that we receive from private The details of our bank individuals and other do- account are: nors. You can help us help IBAN: DK6130003785046366 those in need by making a BIC: DABADKKK donation via Mission East’s Mission East website www.miseast.org. Skt. Lukas Vej 13 You can donate an amount DK-2900 Hellerup of your choice online, using Denmark Visa or MasterCard. If you