Children in Zimbabwe are “crying from hunger” due to drought

Harare:

Laiwa Musenza, a mother of four, already relies on aid from a local NGO to feed her family as the drought in Zimbabwe worsens.

“Imagine your children are crying because they are hungry and you can’t do anything,” the 54-year-old said.

On a farm on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, a line of children as young as three and a small group of elders are gathered around two large cooking pots.

A volunteer calls out names from the register and, plate in hand, hungry people step forward one by one and receive small portions of macaroni and soybean stew.

For most people it is the main, possibly the only, meal of the day.

The temporary feeding centre was the idea of ​​Samantha Muzoroki and is the newest of five similar centres run by the Kuchengetana Trust, an immigration lawyer.

It started four months ago when parents living at the Caribon Farm complex complained that their children were going to bed hungry because of crop failure in most parts of Zimbabwe.

Caribon residents earn a living by working part-time on neighboring farms, but this year there was no employment on the farms because of the drought.

The budget is halved

“We were only able to get one meal a day. It was especially difficult for those with small children,” Musenza told AFP.

Kuchengetana, which means “caring for one another”, serves an average of 1,500 children twice a day across its five kitchens.

But Muzoroki fears his organisation could come under pressure if the drought continues.

“Our movement is donor-driven. Our donations have dropped drastically. We are getting $400 every three months, up from $600 before, which is less than half our budget,” Muzoroki said.

“We try to make sure that the people we provide meals to get at least one meal, if we can’t provide them with two meals.

“The drought will definitely affect us in many ways and I hope and pray that it doesn’t cause us to have to close any of our centres.”

Zimbabwe is one of the countries in southern Africa facing food shortages due to drought, a problem made worse by the El Niño climate phenomenon.

Last month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of disaster, saying the country needed at least $2 billion to tackle the drought.

At least 7.6 million people, nearly half the population, need assistance.

skipping meals

The United Nations has appealed for $429.3 million to help people affected by drought.

UNICEF also launched an urgent appeal for $84.9 million last month “to provide life-saving interventions amid the complex humanitarian crisis triggered by water and food shortages.”

“Zimbabwe has been experiencing drought conditions for some months now, causing crop failure in key agricultural production areas,” said UNICEF’s Nicholas Alipui.

Additionally, Alipui said that “the country is facing multiple emergencies simultaneously with the cholera outbreak and also the polio situation in the country.”

In Epworth, a semi-formal settlement east of the capital, families are skipping meals while children are not going to school as families struggle to find food.

“We are getting two meals a day instead of three,” said Letwin Mhande, a 36-year-old mother of four whose fruit and vegetable shop is struggling to find stock and customers.

“We eat once in the afternoon and once before going to bed, sometimes we don’t have food to give to the children and they can’t go to school.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)