The main causes of malnutrition are due to the traditional eating habits: maize, manioc, millet pastes, sorghum and yam. They satisfy hunger but they do not nourish. There is little meat or fish and often there is only one meal a day. They eat with their hands from a calabash or a dirty plastic plate. At the analysis laboratory, Jonas finds many stool parasites. The coordinators of the “Caritas” association are trying to train the women in basic hygiene.

Livestock farming is the reserve of the nomadic Fula people, who are constantly on the move looking for grazing for their herds. They come to the markets to sell their zebu meat, milk and cheese.
On market day they are always elegant, with traditional jewellery and make-up.

Our association has helped the village of Alafiarou (part of Péréré,) to finance a store-room for cereals and to buy a mill to make “garri”' flour from manioc. We give support to a motivated women’s cooperative. In 2009 we financed a maize mill.

The orphans eat spirulina, mixed with a little sweetened water, every day.

Girls often help their mothers by collecting firewood for cooking, instead of attending school.

                                             Among our projects, is the manufacture of solar ovens, to avoid deforestation and ensure that girls can go to school              instead of collecting wood.

The cooking-hearths are very energy inefficient: often just three big stones supporting the cooking-pot. The big branches burn slowly, smoking out the whole village!