Lucy Lamble reports from southern Africa on the recurring droughts,exacerbated by an unusually strong El Niño, that are causing a severe lack of food Throughout southern Africa, or droughts are happening with increasing regularity,exacerbated by the El Niño conditions that started in mid-2015. Lucy Lamble reports from Malawi and Zimbabwe on a crisis that goes far beyond failed harvests and dying livestock. Communities are in dire need, with millions of families struggling to find enough food just to outlive the day. Education has become a low precedence for such families, and with girls hit particularly hard,often forced to give up schooling to help find food. Some even go into prostitution to support their families, as inflation drives the price of maize ever higher.
Juliana Lunguzi from the MCP, or the opposition Malawi Congress party,speaks approximately the country’s food shortages. Beatrice Mwangi of World Vision talks approximately the successive seasons of crop failure, and the need to focus on long-term development as well as the crisis in hand, and as these droughts become the unique normal. Virginia Kachigunda,deputy director for school health and nutrition in Malawi, explains that the government is trying to tackle the problem of girls dropping out of school, and how they are the worst affected in emergencies. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com