News & Media

A family struck by hunger

July 20, 2020

A Mother of Eight Narrates Ordeal in Covid-19

Written by Bettie Kemah Johnson-Mbayo, Oxfam in Liberia

Before the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak, Bone Kortie, 43 years, was a petty business trader in Paynesville city, one of the cities surrounding Liberia’s densely populated capital city of Monrovia.

Bone is famously called by regular clients as ‘cold milk’ – a name she earned from the tasty cold milk she sold prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Liberia.

Bone is a mother of eight children between the ages of three and 16 years. Like so many other women across Liberia, she takes care of the extended family too. Bone is the biological parent of five children, while the others are those of her late sister who died tragically in a car crash in 2017.

Bone takes care of these children all by herself since the father of last child disappeared three years ago: “My son’s father asked for the money we were saving for the family to go do business, but since he left I have no idea if he is alive or dead.”

People are afraid to buy milk

Since the start of Covid-19, Bone’s business has faltered, and she has exhausted all her earnings from the sale of cold milk, which is the only source of income she has to feed her entire family.

“Since the start of the sickness, the people are afraid to buy the milk, nobody wants to buy, and I was losing, so I resolved to not sell it anymore,” she said.

Life for Bone and her children is unbearable according to her. She is now doing casual labour, collecting and piling dirt for a house foundation. Three of the children are selling plastic bags in the streets while the oldest son is doing yard work to help the family survive.

“I am currently helping someone to fill their house foundation. I get paid L$150.00 [about 75 cents] a day and at least 10 loads must be taken to the site in a day. The money we raise from the sales of plastic and the filling of the foundation, is what keeps us alive right now.

“Sometimes when I think about my suffering I just want to commit suicide, my life now is not easy, the condition I find myself in, I can’t explain,” she said.

The “no food days” of the week

Prior to Covid-19, Bone and her children ate two meals a day, but now, it is either one meal a day or none.

With tears running down her cheeks, she said, “This Saturday we didn’t eat but we ate Sunday, thanks to the help of a neighbour. I kept little of the food for Monday…I told the children if they eat early Monday morning there will be no food in the evening. So, you see, I can starve the children because I don’t have food and sometimes they don’t understand. Even on Monday they ate at 4pm but the food wasn’t enough, I made them drink enough water. I don’t know if they were okay, but they slept until Tuesday.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday Bone went to work and returned home with five cups of rice, which she steamed, and the children ate without any soup nor oil.

Thursday was a “no food day” for Bone and her children because of the heavy rain that resulted in no work for her and her sons selling the plastics. Now that Liberia has entered the rainy season, there will likely be more no food days to come.

“Today [Thursday] until now no food, the plan I have is, when it is late evening I will go to the lady that I can wash for to give me the clothes to wash, I know she will pay but going for the clothes is an assurance that we will eat Friday because tonight, I am hoping that someone can help me for the children not to sleep hungry again.”

Despite the struggle for food, Bone is also faced with an increase in the rent of her one-bedroom apartment where she and the eight children live. “The landlord said the rent has increased, where am I going to take the money from?” she asks.

Cash transfer: a dream come true

Luckily, Bone is now one of the 300 project participants for the social protection project funded by Oxfam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida). The project is locally led by two partners: Community Healthcare Initiative (CHI) and West Point Women for Health and Development Organization, both largely focused on women rights.

The project aims to minimize the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 on women and girls in six urban poor or slum communities, and it was pre-designed to address their basic food and non-food needs by providing a digital cash transfer via mobile phone.

However, not everyone has a mobile phone, explains Mohammed Massalay, the Oxfam Covid-19 focal point for the project: “after the selection process we noticed that 50% (150 households) of the project participants did not have mobile phones and no mobile money account due to age and some level of vulnerability. We procured phones and SIM cards for these 50% participants and registered a mobile money account of their own.”

Each project participant received $109.50 to their mobile money accounts.

Currently, Bone with a smile beaming across her face, displays the text showing receipt of payment on her phone via mobile money.

“I am going to buy food for the house and start selling charcoal, I do not know when this sickness will go, and I can’t use all the money to buy food,” she said.

The transfer is a dream come through, my children and I can’t say much but to say thank you for coming to our rescue, now we can eat daily.” She said.

Over 80 millionaires around the world call for higher taxes on the richest to help COVID-19 global recovery

July 14, 2020

Today, a group of 83 millionaires from seven countries, the “Millionaires for Humanity”, released an open letter to governments, calling for a permanent tax increase on the very wealthiest to help pay for the global recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

The letter praises the essential workers who have been on the frontline of the crisis and highlights the role that the richest people in society can play in helping to rebalance the world economy. In it, the group urges governments to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires “immediately, substantially and permanently.”

The group released their call ahead of this weekend’s G20 Finance Ministers and Central Governors meeting, and the Special European Council meeting in Brussels, both of which are expected to discuss the global effort to rebuild economies in a post-COVID world. They hope politicians will address global inequality and acknowledge that tax increases on the wealthy and greater international tax transparency are essential for a viable long-term solution.

Prominent signatories include the founder of the Warehouse Group, New Zealander Sir Stephen Tindall, British screenwriter and director Richard Curtis, American film producer and heiress Abigail Disney, Danish-Iranian entrepreneur Djaffar Shalchi, American co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Jerry Greenfield, award winning German start-up investor and philanthropist Dr. Mariana Bozesan, and American former managing director at Blackrock Morris Pearl.

Morris Pearl, investor and the chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires said: “The COVID-19 crisis has revealed the fragility of our system and shown that no one ―rich or poor― is better off in a society with massive inequality and a failing social safety net. We must reset our tax structure to one that values the contribution of labor as much as the contribution of capital.”

Djaffar Shalchi, entrepreneur, philanthropist and founder of Human Act said: “Together, we question the concentration of wealth, and demand hands on solutions to create more economically viable societies. Personally, I believe we need a global wealth tax of one percent on the world’s richest people. People like me can afford it, it will do us no harm, and it will have a huge impact.”

Dr. Mariana Bozesan, 2019’s European female investor of the year and philanthropist said: “Like the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic shows us that current systems, including economic, financial and political, are not well equipped to handle current grand global challenges; they are only exacerbating them. Because I grew up extremely poor in communist Romania, I feel a deep calling to do whatever I can to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and am especially focused on inequality, poverty, and job creation that can restore dignity and well-being at all levels of society.”

The letter was circulated by the Patriotic Millionaires, Oxfam, Human Act, Tax Justice UK, Club of Rome, Resource Justice, and Bridging Ventures, and warns that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could push half a billion more people into poverty.

Notes to editors

Download the full letter and list of signatories

For more information or to coordinate an interview, please contact:

Kelsey-Rae Taylor at Kelsey-Rae.Taylor@oxfam.org.nz or 021 298 5894

Hunger could kill millions more than Covid-19, warns Oxfam

July 10, 2020

12,000 people per day could die from Covid-19 linked hunger by end of year, potentially more than the disease, warns Oxfam.

Eight of the biggest food and beverage companies pay out $18 billion to shareholders as new epicentres of hunger emerge across the globe

As many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease, warned Oxfam in a new briefing published today. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day.

‘The Hunger Virus,’ reveals how 121 million more people could be pushed to the brink of starvation this year as a result of the social and economic fallout from the pandemic including through mass unemployment, disruption to food production and supplies, and declining aid.

Oxfam’s Interim Executive Director Chema Vera said:

“COVID-19 is the last straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers. Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe – ten times more than the UN says is needed to stop people going hungry.”

The briefing reveals the world’s ten worst hunger hotspots, places such as Venezuela and South Sudan where the food crisis is most severe and getting worse as a result of the pandemic. It also highlights emerging epicentres of hunger – middle income countries such as India, South Africa, and Brazil – where millions of people who were barely managing have been tipped over the edge by the pandemic. For example:

Brazil: Millions of poor workers, with little in the way of savings or benefits to fall back on, lost their incomes as a result of lockdown. Only 10 percent of the financial support promised by the federal government had been distributed by late June with big business favored over workers and smaller more vulnerable companies.
India: Travel restrictions left farmers without vital migrant labour at the peak of the harvest season, forcing many to leave their crops in the field to rot. Traders have also been unable to reach tribal communities during the peak harvest season for forest products, depriving up to 100 million people of their main source of income for the year.
Yemen: Remittances dropped by 80 percent – or $253 million – in the first four months of 2020 as a result of mass job losses across the Gulf. Borders and supply route closures have led to food shortages and food price spikes in the country which imports 90 percent of its food.
Sahel: Restrictions on movement have prevented herders from driving their livestock to greener pastures for feeding, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people. Just 26 percent of the $2.8bn needed to respond to COVID-19 in the region has been pledged.

Kadidia Diallo, a female milk producer in Burkina Faso, told Oxfam: “COVID-19 is causing us a lot of harm. Giving my children something to eat in the morning has become difficult. We are totally dependent on the sale of milk, and with the closure of the market we can’t sell the milk anymore. If we don’t sell milk, we don’t eat.”

Women, and women-headed households, are more likely to go hungry despite the crucial role they play as food producers and workers. Women are already vulnerable because of systemic discrimination that sees them earn less and own fewer assets than men. They make up a large proportion of groups, such as informal workers, that have been hit hard by the economic fallout of the pandemic, and have also borne the brunt of a dramatic increase in unpaid care work as a result of school closures and family illness.

““Governments must contain the spread of this deadly disease but it is equally vital they take action to stop the pandemic killing as many – if not more – people from hunger,” said Vera.

“Governments can save lives now by fully funding the UN’s COVID-19 appeal, making sure aid gets to those who need it most, and cancelling the debts of developing countries to free up funding for social protection and healthcare. To end this hunger crisis, governments must also build fairer, more robust, and more sustainable food systems, that put the interests of food producers and workers before the profits of big food and agribusiness,” added Vera.

Since the pandemic began, Oxfam has reached 4.5 million of the world’s most vulnerable people with food aid and clean water, working together with over 344 partners across 62 countries. We aim to reach a total of 14 million people by raising a further $113m to support our programmes.

Notes to editor

The Hunger Virus: How the coronavirus is fuelling hunger in a hungry world is available on request.

Stories, pictures, and video highlighting the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on hunger across the globe are available on request.

The WFP estimates that the number of people in crisis level hunger − defined as IPC level 3 or above – will increase by approximately 121 million this year as a result of the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. The estimated daily mortality rate for IPC level 3 and above is 0.5−0.99 per 10,000 people, equating to 6,000−12,000 deaths per day due to hunger as a result of the pandemic before the end of 2020. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day and has ranged from approximately 5,000 to 7,000 deaths per day in the months since then according to data from John Hopkins University. While there can be no certainty about future projections, if there is no significant departure from these observed trends during the rest of the year, and if the WFP estimates for increasing numbers of people experiencing crisis level hunger hold, then it is likely that daily deaths from hunger as a result of the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic will be higher than those from the disease before the end of 2020. It is important to note that there is some overlap between these numbers given that some deaths due to COVID-19 could be linked to malnutrition.

Oxfam gathered information on dividend payments of eight of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies up to the beginning of July 2020, using a mixture of company, NASDAQ, and Bloomberg websites. Numbers are rounded to the nearest million: Coca-Cola ($3,522m), Danone ($1,348m), General Mills ($594m), Kellogg ($391m), Mondelez ($408m), Nestlé ($8,248m for entire year), PepsiCo ($2,749m) and Unilever (estimated $1,180m). Many of these companies are pursuing efforts to address COVID-19 and/or global hunger.

The ten extreme hunger hotspots are: Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Venezuela, the West African Sahel, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Haiti.

Gabriela Bucher appointed new Oxfam International Executive Director

July 8, 2020

Oxfam International is pleased to announce Gabriela Bucher as its new Executive Director. Ms Bucher is a leader in the field of gender equality and human rights. She joins Oxfam from Plan International where she had a global leadership role as its Chief Operating Officer.

Ms Bucher said she was excited for the new challenge in leading Oxfam, steering through its internal transformation and nurturing the energy and talent of its staff and partners to effect positive change around the world.

Ms Bucher was selected after a global search led by Oxfam International’s interim Chair Ricardo Acuña. “In an outstanding field of candidates, we were highly impressed by Gabriela’s strong feminist leadership and by the values she brings to inspire and convene our Oxfam confederation with our partners in our fight against inequality to end poverty and injustice. We value her deep and senior leadership experience within our sector which establishes her strength to lead Oxfam’s drive to be a leaner, more diverse and globally-balanced organization.”

Ms Bucher said: “I have long held the greatest respect for Oxfam as part of our global movement for a just and sustainable world. Oxfam is a global network that fights inequality in order to make the systemic change that is necessary for people to reach a fairer and better life not only for themselves today, but for their children tomorrow.

“I believe there is bravery in genuinely listening to all, in order to really understand and drive change in the fight against inequality. Dialogue that is open and respectful can be truly transformative, no matter how profound the differences are between us.”

“I am deeply aware of the huge challenges facing civil society actors like Oxfam, including from the economic, political and social upheavals that are all worsened now by the coronavirus pandemic ―as I have seen first-hand in leading Plan International’s coronavirus response. The work of organizations like Oxfam is needed now more than ever. In these times we find strength from the values we hold, from the partnerships we treasure and from the strength of our facts, our convictions and our solidarity with people who are facing oppression and poverty,” she said.

Ms Bucher played a leading role in Plan International’s work reaching forty million girls and boys through its 8,000-strong staff. She previously led the growth of Fundacion Plan from a country office to a full Plan affiliate member, playing a role in Colombia’s peace process as a partner of the government on all issues concerning children’s rights.

Ms Bucher will replace Oxfam International’s interim Executive Director Chema Vera and start her new role in November 2020.

Rights in Crisis: Israel’s illegal annexation of parts of the West Bank

July 2, 2020

On the announcement of Israel’s illegal annexation of parts of the West Bank Oxfam’s Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel Shane Stevenson said:

“Today millions of Palestinians worldwide have been betrayed by the international community. This serious—and likely irreversible— plan to acquire occupied territory by force is a violation of the most basic principles of international law.

Whether annexation takes place today or tomorrow, incrementally or in swathes, it will throw Palestinian families into indefinite limbo. It will see Palestinians in areas under threat face an increase in discriminatory legal regimes, raids on their homes, separated families, limited access to basic services, more checkpoints, walls and fences, further limiting Palestinians’ already restricted freedom of movement and ultimately fall further into poverty. Shame on those world leaders who did so little to give Palestinians any hope of a life of freedom, prosperity and peace. It is nothing less than a reversal of decades and billions of dollars of development and humanitarian work.

Palestinian communities are at risk of becoming isolated enclaves. The annexation of the fertile land of the Jordan Valley in particular, the food basket of the West Bank, would render a functioning Palestinian State impossible; depriving it of the land and natural resources necessary to sustain itself. Oxfam strongly condemns any annexation of West Bank territory and urges the international community to reject any further steps in this plan. Its
repercussions must be made crystal clear if Israel moves forward with this harmful, illegal act.”

Notes to Editors:

Supporting photography and quotes from impacted Palestinians are available upon request
Oxfam has been working in the region since the 1950s and established a country office in the 1980s. We work in the most vulnerable communities in Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Area C with more than 60 Palestinian and Israeli partner organizations to respond to humanitarian crises, to help communities to earn a living and access resources like food, water and education, and to build a strong civil society.
Spokespeople are available upon request.
Contact: Adeline Guerra in Jerusalem | adeline.guerra@oxfam.org | +972 (0)54 6395 002 | Skype: aguerra.oxfam

Gas is a very unstable foundation on which to rebuild from coronavirus crisis – Oxfam

June 24, 2020

As the recovery from COVID-19 begins, investing in gas will entrench the same problems as coal, including high energy costs, climate damage and pollution, violations of land rights, and a concentration of wealth, a new briefing from Oxfam Australia shows.

Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Lyn Morgain said the briefing paper, “Australia’s energy future & the recovery from COVID-19”, showed gas was a very unstable foundation on which to rebuild an economy and build a better future.

“This year, we have seen that no-one is immune to the climate crisis, including here in Australia,” Ms Morgain said. “But it is people living in poverty who are paying the greatest cost, despite having contributed the least to global climate pollution.

“Relying on a gas-fired recovery from COVID-19 risks failing not only to meet immediate needs but also imposing a crippling burden on future generations – in the form of climate damage, stranded assets, fewer jobs and big debts.

“Australia has been a regressive force on global climate action – doubling down on fossil fuels at home and for export, and holding back international negotiations. But in the face of the twin challenges of economic recovery and the climate crisis, there is a now a once in a generation opportunity to stabilise and strengthen the Australian economy while also tackling climate change.

“The COVID-19 crisis has shown we’re capable of listening to the science, working together, and taking bold action across all levels of government, business and the community. We must now apply that same resolve and foresight to the even greater challenges that lie ahead, and tackle the climate crisis.”

Ms Morgain said it was claimed that gas was less emissions intensive than coal, but the mining, processing and transportation of gas released large quantities of methane – a highly potent greenhouse gas with many times the warming potential of carbon dioxide.

“The proposed expansion of Australia’s gas industry is of grave concern to many,” Ms Morgain said. “When it comes to our immediate region – the Pacific – this stubborn resistance to cutting emissions has become more than cause for embarrassment, and may increasingly affect Australia materially and strategically.

“Staunch global allies, including the United Kingdom, have been left bewildered by our reluctance to turn away from coal and gas, even after seeing vast tracts of our country engulfed in flames. However, Australia is uniquely placed to help drive the global transition to a clean energy future and to reap the economic benefits. This clean energy future also offers a far better prospect for communities, in our region and beyond, to overcome poverty and inequality.

Amelia Telford, Bundjalung woman and National Director of the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network said the proposed expansion of Australia’s gas industry would disproportionately impact Aboriginal communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, where gas companies were itching to start fracking.

“Many Aboriginal communities are concerned about the long-term damage that fracking could cause to water, to country, to songlines, and the long-term effects of climate change. These communities are already feeling the impacts of a warming climate, fracking would only make this worse and could force many people to move off country,” Ms Telford said.

“Time and time again, governments and mining companies have ignored concerns from Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities who are worried about fracking and the impacts of exploration licences that have been granted without proper free, prior and informed consent.”

Ms Morgain said these communities feared they would have to deal with the long-term impacts of onshore gas development, while the benefits would be short-term and flow mostly to people outside the community.

“We are a developed country with very high emissions per person, and a hefty historical responsibility for climate pollution, but, on the positive side, almost unparalleled resources in solar and wind energy,” Ms Morgain said.

“Solar and wind provide the most cost-effective form of new energy generation in most markets across the world, even before pricing in the many negative impacts associated with fossil fuels; and, the potential for job creation in renewables is far greater than in the fossil fuel industry.

Oxfam is urging the Government to invest in economic stimulus measures that accelerate the transformation of our energy system to being powered by renewable energy.

“Oxfam is also calling for the Government to commit to a national goal of zero emissions well before mid-century, no further expansion of Australia’s coal and gas industries, and to the phase-out of fossil fuels in both our domestic energy system and exports by 2030,” Ms Morgain said.

“Finally, the organisation is calling on the Government to prioritise Indigenous-led climate solutions and the right of Australia’s First Peoples to protect Country, as well as prioritising opportunities for new jobs and industries in regional areas through climate action.”

-ends-

Click here to read the full report.