Scenes from the Sahel
Erosion is threatening to destroy a school in the town of Mao, in the Sahel region of Chad. In this photo, two children are standing in front of a fast-growing gully that threatens to swallow up their school. According to town leaders, the lack of rain has left the ground so dry that it easily crumbles away. When rain finally arrived this year, most of it came in torrential storms that caused heavy damage.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
A fisherman with his net on Lake Chad. About 95 per cent of the lake has disappeared since the 1960s, and the fish are much smaller and harder to catch now, forcing most of the fishermen to abandon the lake.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
Moussa Bulari, left, is struggling to grow crops on a patch of land near Lake Chad to feed his family. In this photo, he is with his son, Adam, and his daughters Kakani and Fatima. Until the 1990s, this land was irrigated with water from Lake Chad, but now the lake has receded so far that irrigation is impossible. Instead he must dig boreholes and use a pump, which is expensive, and his crop yields have dropped by 40 per cent in the past 10 years.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
Adji Goukouni, an elder in the village of Mampel in the Sahel region of Chad. At the age of 71, he says he is too old to leave the village, but most of the younger men have gone away in search of work, leaving behind the women, children and old people. He says it is impossible to grow any crops because of the lack of rainfall for many years in the region. Most of the village?s cows and camels have died.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
Five-year-old Fatime Owye weighs barely 7 kilograms and would have died if she hadn't received emergency aid. She is getting medical care at a hospital in Mao, a town in the Sahel region of Chad.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
Fatime Owye and her mother, Halime Djime, who travelled 700 kilometres to take the girl to the hospital for emergency care. Fatime's father, who owned a small herd of camels, left the family three years ago in search of work when the climate became too harsh for the camels.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail
Zara Ousmane Amadou heads a local environmental group that is planting trees in the desert near Lake Chad. She is standing with one of the thorn trees that her group has planted to combat the growth of the desert. Decades ago, this land was covered by Lake Chad.Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail