Famine in Niger endangering thousands, also hurting missionary radio

Niger (MNN) — 2.5 million people are hungry. 800,000 are malnourished and the situation doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Famine has hit the country of Niger.

HCJB World Radio’s Ben Cummings describes the situation. “They have been struggling with this since August 2004. They had a very poor crop. (There was) a tremendous locust infestation. There is international aid coming in, but very, very slowly.”

In times like these the population relies on communications to help direct people where the aid can be found, but even the HCJB World Radio partner radio station in Niger’s capital is having difficulty. “It unfortunately right now has problems with their transmitter. Some part has broken down and it’s difficult to get replacements. But, they’re operating on only 30 watts instead of their usual 600 watts which covers the city and quite a distance into the rural area,” says Cummings.

That means relief supply messages aren’t getting out to as many people and the most important message, The Gospel, is also curtailed. Cummings says, “We support a national missionary that lives in a village nearby and he is wanting to use the radio very much for evangelism. Right now it’s not reaching out to that village.” So, funding is needed to help repair the transmitter.

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