European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 04, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes wednesday september 4, 1985 from Page 7 were getting food every Day. We were Able to give food to 200,000 adults. No things arc a Little better. Now the situation is a Little bit better. Not in every place. In the North where the population is 100 percent nomads the situation is still very bad. That is Why you see All these refugee for the Long term experts Here agree that malian will have to develop their own resources or face one famine after another. The . Is trying to help Mali restructure its agriculture programs and work toward self sufficiency said Mazel. But How realistic is that Given All the problems this country can grow Rood and it can grow lots of food. It needs a new agricultural policy with incentives. It needs irrigation. It needs roads. It needs credit. It needs experts to bring in new strains Olcorn and Millet. And it needs it needs five Good years of rain said Presgrove. If the Rains stopped tomorrow we would be in bad on the african misery Index which goes right off the charts bad trouble might not seem so bad. Analysts say Mali with its population of roughly 7 million is not the Basket Case that Ethiopia with its much larger population and obstructionist marxist government is. People Are dying in Mali much More from malnutrition related diseases than from pure starvation according to the experts. The consensus View is to try to keep As Many people alive for now and Pray for rain. Try to move the malian toward As much self sufficiency As possible Over the next Tew years and Pray for rain. And Pray for rain. Is photo by Don Tele the gang thai follows the americans around outside the engineers compound. Cite me they say. The americans were a Miracle by Don Fate staff writer it was Over. On this last Day the thermometer had climbed to Only 110 degrees for them a bit Chilly. After 108 Days of sizzling in the Sun 15 Good men were coming out of the Savage Sahara replaced by another team. Of All the complexities involved in relieving the famine in Mali there was one inspiring example of Gung to direct action that no one debated. The Tea from the 565th combat engr in out of Karlsruhe Germany was like the rain which finally came a Miracle. Hungry malian looked at them like they were gods bringing nectar. All they did said a . Official was prevent catastrophe. A lot of people Are going to stay alive because of them. If they had t gotten Here with that raft there would have been stacks of Grain just strewn All Over the Banks of the niger rained on rotting pilfered. With no Way to get to the other Side exception those Little dugout canoes. Truckers from the ports would t even have made the trip through the desert with the the engineers went into action after the a lians own ferry became inoperable and the United tales Agency for International development said asked the army for help and fast. On May 18 the engineers and heir equipment were loaded on three culs and flown to Mali s capital Bamako. Because of the Short Airstrip at Gao to the North built by the soviet the men and equipment had to be reloaded in smaller c-l30s before being transported to Gao. When the engineers arrived it was 135 degrees. They went right to work even borrowing a soviet Crane. Less than two Days after the arrival of their equipment they were ferrying trucks carrying up to 50 tons of Grain each across the Muddy rising niger on a raft made of rubber floats and aluminium decking. The task got Dicey at times. Suddenly the engineers would look up and Sec a Wall of Sand rolling in. Wear ing scarves Over their faces and goggles Over their eyes. At times they had to Cross the Choppy River in driving Sand dust and rain storms. They had to Deal with native Drivers who had crossed the desert i i an african assortment of trucks some of them falling apart Somr arriving on wheels without tires or tires tied together with rope. The Drivers did not always i y attention to the Engi neers instructions. One who did t plunged with his truck into the swirling water and drowned. Other truckers got lost in the desert said 1st. Cody Leader of the team of engineers. Roads just disappeared into the Sand. Sometimes the roads Are just trails of Sand. The Sand blows and the roads Are the engineers worked seven Days a week. Even when the malian knocked off work during the hottest hours the engineers kept going. They called us the crazy americans said raft com Mand r de Derendorf. Five of us would take five Gallons of water Down to the River to drink while we were working said another Engineer. By noon All the water would be by All accounts the crazy americans have made a bigger hit with the malian than a detachment of soviet engineers nearby. The soviets Don t mingle with the people or the americans. They Only go out in a group. The soviets Are supposedly there to lengthen the Gao Airstrip. They be been lengthening it said a . Engineer smiling for six life inside the Little american walled compounds outside Gao surrounded by desperate refugees and the three mud Brick dwellings they lived in was not always just smiles said the engineers. Nerves got raw at pressed in. There was t much to do after work read talk watch the same video tapes Over and Over. Go Down to the la desert club and listen to the same Wacky song Over and Over. Eat res. The dehydrated food they had brought in ran Short and they were reduced to eating potato and Bacon for breakfast near the end. In even Shorter Supply was mail from Home which came i sporadically or not at All. Cabin fever got to us a few times Cody said. I usually Don t have headaches but i came Down with severe headaches. I was sick for a week once and did t even know what it was. And then one Day it was they slept on cots. After the first month they got air conditioning built into their Bare Little rooms and even inside toilets. The first month was t so luxurious. Be cause of the heat they Lay out on the roofs of their dwellings in order to sleep took showers with a Hose held Over their Heads. The water pressure was so Low it was necessary to sit on the ground while showering. Toilet accommodations was a Hole in the ground. How would the Only woman on the team spec. 4 Dana Copeland the engineers new Cook fare in such a far out male environment no one knew least of All Copeland. She s game the men said. Shell have some stories to one Soldier who was willing to stay on in Gao was spec. 4 Greg Rogers. I guess i m a do gooder he said. Nothing i be Ever done gave me More they re All heroes was the Way 1st. Sgt. Doug Masterson put it. Masterson a three tour Vietnam vet eran said that anybody can pull a trigger and make a body count but saving lives is something Well want to remember. Nobody will Wake up having Nightmare from this one african who will hate to Sec the engineers leave once the malian own ferry is fixed and floated up River from Bamako is their Houseboy Mohammed a thin 11-year-old with a malformed foot. "1 learn a lot of English he make Kool Aid. 1 go on the errand. I help Cook on sunday. When americans go i Don t know where to where arc his parents my Mother and father get sick. Just die. 1 Don l know Why. Just die. Many Peoples die. Nobody know How Many Peoples die Here there. If somebody Tell you How much die they lie. A Hoodoo too Many Mohammed Shook his head. He looked ready to cry. He said he hoped the malian raft stayed broken for a Long time so the americans would t go away
