美国国家公共电台 NPR--When there's drought, African governments urged to act before there's famine

When there's drought, African governments urged to act before there's famine

Transcript¹

A drought is pounding the Horn of Africa. How can the region recover from this one, and are some small-scale solutions to the challenges of drought and famine staring governments in the face?

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Horn of Africa is facing one of the worst droughts in history. Meteorologists predict the next wet season will likely fail to deliver enough rain, putting millions of people at risk of starvation. NPR's Eyder Peralta traveled to one of the most distressed² areas and found that a lot of this human suffering is preventable.

(SOUNDBITE OF WIND BLOWING)

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE³: Just a decade ago, this place used to be green. Cows grazed on rolling hills covered in lush grass. But today it's barren. It's all dirt, dust and rocks. Most of the cows have died.

SULDANA ABDULLAHI: (Speaking Somali).

PERALTA: Suldana Abdullahi has three cows, but at this point, you can see bones poking⁴ through their skin. In the old days, these cows would thrive on their own. Now they're kept in a pen because, otherwise, they would walk miles looking for pasture, and they'd die of exhaustion⁵.

ABDULLAHI: (Speaking Somali).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER #1: She says some died of diseases. And, you know, when they are weak like this, they are always susceptible⁶ to every disease.

PERALTA: This is one of the most remote regions of Ethiopia. It's right along the border of Somalia. And residents here say that they haven't had any rain for six years. The drought is so intense, even the acacia trees are dying. We move to a place that used to be a village. Zenaib Ahmed, a herder, is one of the last people left. She says when the rains stopped, this place slowly became hell.

ZENAIB AHMED: (Speaking Somali).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER #2: Then there was no pasture for livestock⁷. And then there was no water for both.

PERALTA: The homes here look like tropical igloos. They're oval structures, meticulously⁸ woven with reeds and branches. But now they're falling apart. The school is empty. Most people went to the cities looking for work or humanitarian⁹ aid. Zenaib says this is not what life used to be like. Before, they thrived.

AHMED: (Speaking Somali).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER #2: The life was good. Everybody was happy. Boys and girls used to...

(LAUGHTER)

PERALTA: And all of that is done. No more?

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER #2: No more marriage. No more discussion?

PERALTA: So even that, no.

(LAUGHTER)

PERALTA: She jokes that even love has stopped flourishing in this part of Ethiopia. Depending on what measure you use, this is likely the worst drought on record in the Horn of Africa. The statistics are staggering.

GUYO ROBA: Between 20 to 32 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia will be acutely food insecure.

PERALTA: That's Guyo Roba of the Jameel Observatory¹⁰ for Food Security.

ROBA: And out of that, maybe, like, 7 million children are severely¹¹ malnourished by September.

PERALTA: What's worse, says Roba, is that climate change means that this region is now facing drought more often. There was drought in 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, and now since 2020. It means the people of this region have already used up their emergency reserves. And their animals, which represents a bank account, were already weak. It means that during this drought, 7 million livestock have died, wiping out generations of progress.

ROBA: We are actually looking at the most prolonged drought and maybe most devastating¹².

PERALTA: But Roba says this is not some forsaken¹³ land. Indeed, the solutions are well known, and every country has the potential and natural resources to grow more than enough food to feed everyone.

ROBA: Nobody should go hungry. I think what is missing is actually a judicious¹⁴ mix of investments.

(SOUNDBITE OF WIND BLOWING)

PERALTA: Back in the field not far from that abandoned village, Abdullahi Ibrahim of the World Food Program leads me past the fence, and suddenly the terrain¹⁵ changes from barren land to fields of corn, cilantro, tomatoes, onions. It's all green. It's all beautiful.

Wow. So this is what's possible here?

ABDULLAHI IBRAHIM: Yeah. There's nothing impossible. Only resources is required.

PERALTA: So we went from, like, desert to, like, this massive field. What is it, corn?

IBRAHIM: Yes - because the river is just here. We are pumping the river water here.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER PUMP)

PERALTA: Most of the people here have herded¹⁶ animals for centuries. This pilot program installs pumps and teaches herders to farm. The hope is that they'll grow food and feed for their animals, and they'll be able to survive these droughts. Isaac Ali, who's in his 50s, says before this year, he never dreamed of farming.

ISAAC ALI: (Through interpreter) We never used to see it as important.

PERALTA: Herders in this part of the world tend to guard their way of life zealously¹⁷. Ali walks us to his plot of land. He marvels¹⁸ at how the blades of green dance in the wind. He doesn't mind not having cows anymore. Farming suits him.

ALI: (Speaking Somali).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER #1: He got even the chance of conducting his prayers in the mosques¹⁹, chance to rest. But in the past, he used to move with the animals.

PERALTA: Roba, the food expert, says this is exactly the kind of change that should be happening across the Horn of Africa. But at the moment, governments and the big aid agencies are failing.

ROBA: The way we structure our intervention²⁰ is a problem.

PERALTA: He says governments and aid agencies have advanced warning of drought. But for 50 years, they have waited until there's a threat of famine to act. By then, all the money goes to emergency food aid. Roba says treating drought as an emergency will never fix the problem long term. Instead, he says, governments and aid agencies should be thinking.

ROBA: How do we develop a framework that looks at drought not as an emergency, but as a creeping long-term calamity²¹ phenomenon?

PERALTA: In the Somali region of Ethiopia, what we hear over and over from the residents is that their world has changed forever, and they're willing to change with it. They're willing to be farmers if they have to. As we leave, we meet Mohammed Hassan Mohamud, a community elder. He says what this project has taught them is that they can still survive in this land.

MOHAMMED HASSAN MOHAMUD: (Speaking Somali).

PERALTA: He quotes a Somali saying, if "you don't know your land, it will eat you." But now he says, they know.

Eyder Peralta, NPR News, in the Somali region of Ethiopia.

(SOUNDBITE OF MULATU ASTATKE SONG, "GAMBELLA")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

5 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

6 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

7 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

8 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

13 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。

14 judicious   

adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的

参考例句：

• We should listen to the judicious opinion of that old man.我们应该听取那位老人明智的意见。
• A judicious parent encourages his children to make their own decisions.贤明的父亲鼓励儿女自作抉择。

15 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

16 herded   

群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动

参考例句：

• He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
• They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。

17 zealously   

adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地

参考例句：

• Of course the more unpleasant a duty was, the more zealously Miss Glover performed it. 格洛弗小姐越是对她的职责不满意，她越是去积极执行它。 来自辞典例句
• A lawyer should represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law. 律师应在法律范围内热忱为当事人代理。 来自口语例句

18 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句

19 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

20 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

21 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。