WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

hen Beryl Aseno, program director for ADRA-Togo, walks out of her apartment each morning, she is greeted by many faces. Some are happy, but many others evidence hardship. Hunger, poor health, and illiteracy are daily challenges for the villagers who live in this western African country, even though they work hard attempting to eke out a living. Many of the people are farmers, and they depend on good harvests to feed their families.

"This is a sad but real situation in the villages where ADRA-Togo works," says Aseno. "This is the reason we are here, to improve the quality of life for these lovely children of God. "It is especially difficult for the children," adds Aseno. "They often are the ones who suffer the most from poor nutrition, and there is frequently no schooling available for them."

According to Aseno, ADRA-Togo's mission is to make a difference in the lives of the Togolese people, even if it's by changing only one life at a time. "Jesus has set an example for us in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and ministering to the various physical and spiritual needs of the people around Him," says Aseno. "We want to show that compassion and concern through our work."

Togo, a long, narrow western African country that is slightly smaller in land size than West Virginia in the United States, is bordered by Ghana on the west and Benin on the east, and has a population of more than five million people. The climate ranges from hot and humid in the south to semiarid in the north, and its economy is heavily dependent on agriculture.

ADRA-Togo focuses on implementing community development projects and offering relief efforts for the rural Togo population in the Maritime region in the southern part of the country. Women especially are targeted because ADRA recognizes the vital role of women, both in their families and in the community as a whole.

Education and training are used extensively to accomplish ADRA-Togo's goals. Staff members are training residents in more than 65 villages on topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment; how to care for people who have AIDS; healthful nutrition; income-generating activities such as animal breeding, dye making, and produce farming; malaria prevention and treatment; marriage counseling; adult literacy; child immunization; women's and children's rights; family planning; and girls' education and hygiene. ADRA field workers organize community development committees in each village, and also train a local woman from the committee to become a facilitator. After the field workers complete a village project, the local facilitator continues to function as a resource person, providing counseling and assistance for the community.

Because they live among community residents every day, the ADRA field workers have become friends with many of the families, and this has opened up ways to help them and to teach them the importance of healthful living. As a result of ADRA's efforts, girls are now attending school; villages are cleaner with fewer instances of childhood illnesses, the physically challenged walk with the help of wheelchairs provided by ADRA and other assisting organizations, and because of the collaborative efforts of ADRA, Glei Adventist Eye Hospital in Togo, and Christian Blind Mission International, sight is being restored to many with vision problems.

"ADRA recently began a community initiative in seven villages on malaria prevention," says Aseno. "Not only did the villagers listen to and participate in the discussion, but they requested that we supply them with mosquito nets for protection from the disease." ADRA-Togo and the local Ministry of Health Department provided approximately 500 large insecticide-treated mosquito nets for the residents. The villagers also financially contributed to the project. It is estimated that more than 1,000 cases of malaria have been prevented as a result of this project.

ADRA field workers frequently encounter new and diverse challenges. They entered one village in which many of the people were suffering from a disease called ulcer buruli, which "chews up" a person's bones and he or she can easily become crippled. After meeting a young boy named Kofi, who could not attend school because of the crippling effect of ulcer buruli, the workers determined to do something to improve the situation. A local hospital was helping to relieve Kofi's pain and minimize the spread of the disease, but villagers said that if they could get wheelchairs, Kofi and others like him would be able to live a more normal life. Joni and Friends, an organization headquartered in Agoura Hills, California, that helps equip organizations worldwide to assist people affected by disabilities, supplied wheelchairs for all those affected by ulcer buruli. Kofi and his friends are now able to attend school.

Ten-year-old Akossiwa had never received vaccinations or treatment at the local health center. Recently, she became very sick, and her parents visited the fetish/voodoo priest to help them determine the cause of the disease. After many visits, however, Akossiwa did not get better. "When an ADRA village worker visited that village, she counseled the parents to take their daughter to the hospital, and finally they did," says Aseno. "The doctor prescribed medication and recommended that the child receive vaccinations for tetanus, tuberculosis, and measles." Because of the financial support and counsel from ADRA, Akossiwa is today a happy and healthy child.

"The needs of Togo are very great, but the Lord has helped us to make a difference in these communities," says ADRA-Togo country director Claudio Giger, who is returning to his home country of Switzerland in December 2004 after serving in Togo for the past five years. "It is rewarding to see how small possibilities can do a lot in raising people's self-esteem and dignity."

Because of funding from organizations such as Canadian International Development Agency, ADRA-Canada, the Swedish Mission Council, and ADRA-Sweden, ADRA-Togo plans to continue to strive to not only meet the needs of those who live in the southern part of the country but also expand their program to the north. It also hopes to add new reproductive health and adult literacy programs.

For more information, go to www.adra-togo.org, or e-mail
adra-togo@ids.tg.

NEWS COMMENTARY

BY WILLIAM VAN SCHEIK

n May 2003 one sick cow in Alberta, Canada, tested positive for BSE. Alarm bells sounded around the world. International borders were sealed to all traffic in beef products. Markets failed. Entire herds were slaughtered. A billion-dollar industry was brought to its knees overnight. The economic fallout in Western Canada has been devastating.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely referred to as mad cow disease, is caused by a prion that affects the central nervous system of cattle. Prions are self-replicating, rogue proteins. Because of their unique structure, they are resistant to disinfectants, ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, and extreme temperatures. Other transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSEs) are known to infect sheep, goats, wild deer, elk, cats, mink, and humans.

Relentlessly progressive and invariably fatal, the human dementia known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is indistinguishable from BSE in cattle. While meat and milk have not been known to carry the infective agent, the link between BSE infected cattle and vCJD in humans is established beyond a doubt. Researchers suggest that BSE may be transmitted to humans through eating food contaminated with infectious neuronal tissue.¹

All of this reminds me of something I've heard before. Dusting off a little red book found on my bookshelf, I open to the following lines, "Animals are becoming more and more diseased, and it will not be long until animal food will be discarded by many besides Seventh-day Advenitsts."² It occurs to me that these words, written so long ago, have never been more timely and appropriate.

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¹ P. Horby, "Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: An Unfolding Epidemic of Misfolded Proteins," Journal of Paediatrics and. Child Health (2002) 38, pp. 539-542.
² Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 384.

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William Van Scheik is a retired biology professor writing from Alberta, Canada.

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