BOSTON—Jonathan Remple recalls making music on African drums with malnourished children whose clothes, filled with holes and tattered to pieces, were falling off their bodies. He remembers walking past people whose starving bodies laid on the side of unpaved roads as he went to work in the Nigerien market every day.
“Visiting Niger was the first time I’d ever been outside of my comfort zone and especially in terms of other cultures and seeing poverty. I mean I’ve seen poverty in the states but it doesn’t compare to when you’re traveling the first poorest country in the world,” said Remple, recalling his experience in Niger. “We have homelessness in this country and it’s horrible, it’s really horrible, and there are people that starve, but for the most part homeless people don’t starve here. But there is no safety net in Niger.”
For a 22-year-old who spent the majority of his life in the suburbs of Capitola, Calif., these images, experienced during his stay abroad in Niger during the spring of 2009, served to shake the core of his comfortable foundation. So when a severe famine hit the country last summer, he was the first to put all summer plans aside and work out a serious emergency relief effort.
With the help of two other Niger study abroad alumni, Max MacCarthy and Laura Parker and Remple, all Boston University graduates, established Niger Food Relief, an emergency relief organization that aims to raise money to buy food for starving communities affected by the famine in Niger.
They then contacted Leslie Clark, the founder of an organization called the Nomad Foundation, which has worked for the past 12 years to find ways for nomads in Niger to support themselves. They asked her to collaborate with them by using their donations to provide food to affected communities.
Clark happily agreed, recognizing that with 80 percent of Nigeriens having less than 10 days worth of food or resources to obtain food, the situation was an urgent one.
“This is an emergency campaign, and I will use their funding according to what they have asked,” said Clark. “This has been a phenomenal campaign. I am so proud of what they have accomplished—the energy they put into it and the effectiveness of their management of it. It gives one hope for our future if the young behave this way. It leaves us with the responsibility of doing the best we can to alleviate the suffering of as many people as possible.”
Through their efforts, the group has raised over $12,000 within just three months from past Niger study abroad alumni and affiliates. With that money, Nomad was able to provide a month’s worth of food to about 3,600 people in the region, giving them enough time and food security to figure out more sustainable solutions.
Remple, who will be traveling to Rwanda at the end of this month on a Fulbright Scholarship, views his efforts as little more than fulfilling a responsibility.
“You’ve seen the cities, you’ve driven through them, we’ve lived in them, and people are starving to death. You look at yourself and you think there’s gotta be something I can do,“ said Remple. ”I’m so wealthy and if I don’t do anything ... its not murder but in essence, its acquiescing to death, and ignoring it is just as bad as proactive killing.”
“Visiting Niger was the first time I’d ever been outside of my comfort zone and especially in terms of other cultures and seeing poverty. I mean I’ve seen poverty in the states but it doesn’t compare to when you’re traveling the first poorest country in the world,” said Remple, recalling his experience in Niger. “We have homelessness in this country and it’s horrible, it’s really horrible, and there are people that starve, but for the most part homeless people don’t starve here. But there is no safety net in Niger.”
For a 22-year-old who spent the majority of his life in the suburbs of Capitola, Calif., these images, experienced during his stay abroad in Niger during the spring of 2009, served to shake the core of his comfortable foundation. So when a severe famine hit the country last summer, he was the first to put all summer plans aside and work out a serious emergency relief effort.
With the help of two other Niger study abroad alumni, Max MacCarthy and Laura Parker and Remple, all Boston University graduates, established Niger Food Relief, an emergency relief organization that aims to raise money to buy food for starving communities affected by the famine in Niger.
They then contacted Leslie Clark, the founder of an organization called the Nomad Foundation, which has worked for the past 12 years to find ways for nomads in Niger to support themselves. They asked her to collaborate with them by using their donations to provide food to affected communities.
Clark happily agreed, recognizing that with 80 percent of Nigeriens having less than 10 days worth of food or resources to obtain food, the situation was an urgent one.
“This is an emergency campaign, and I will use their funding according to what they have asked,” said Clark. “This has been a phenomenal campaign. I am so proud of what they have accomplished—the energy they put into it and the effectiveness of their management of it. It gives one hope for our future if the young behave this way. It leaves us with the responsibility of doing the best we can to alleviate the suffering of as many people as possible.”
Through their efforts, the group has raised over $12,000 within just three months from past Niger study abroad alumni and affiliates. With that money, Nomad was able to provide a month’s worth of food to about 3,600 people in the region, giving them enough time and food security to figure out more sustainable solutions.
Remple, who will be traveling to Rwanda at the end of this month on a Fulbright Scholarship, views his efforts as little more than fulfilling a responsibility.
“You’ve seen the cities, you’ve driven through them, we’ve lived in them, and people are starving to death. You look at yourself and you think there’s gotta be something I can do,“ said Remple. ”I’m so wealthy and if I don’t do anything ... its not murder but in essence, its acquiescing to death, and ignoring it is just as bad as proactive killing.”
Friends Read Free