More than 60 percent of the population
in Zimbabwe's western region of Hwange require food relief.
WFP's Richard Lee visited the district of Chidobe and found
that the near collapse of the tourist trade in nearby Victoria
Falls has worsened the crisis.
Chidobe, Sept 2-
Shading her youngest daughter from the glare of the bright
winter sun, Silendeni Mpala waits patiently for the food aid
truck to arrive.
Gathered around her are hundreds of other men and women from
villages across the district. They have all trekked for miles
through the dusty bush to reach Chidobe primary school, where
they will receive their monthly ration of relief food.
"We did not harvest any maize at all this year because of
the drought," Mpala said.
"Luckily, we still have a few pumpkins left but they will
run out in the next few weeks and then we will have absolutely
nothing to eat except for the food that we are given."

"What
can I do? There is no food, no work. Nothing! Even with
this maize my family will be hungry. Without it, we
would die."
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Silendeni
Mpala, mother of eight |
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Silendeni lives in
the nearby village of Chidobe 3 and has a family of eight
to feed, including her sick husband.
Unable to lay her hands on any other source of food or on
any way of making money, Silendeni admits that her family's
future is now utterly dependent on food aid.
"What can I do? There is no food, no work. Nothing!"
she said. "Even with this maize my family will be hungry.
Without it, we would die."
Nearby 65-year old Maggie Khumalo shakes her head - not in
disagreement or disbelief but in despair. She has lived in
this part of southwestern Zimbabwe all her life and cannot
believe how desperate the situation has already become.
"This is the worst it has ever been," Khumalo said. "Very
few people harvested anything at all and most of that is now
finished. And even the maize we are given is only enough for
one meal a day. And this month it ran out early. For the last
two days, my four grandchildren and I have had nothing to
eat but pumpkins."
ENERGY SAVING
A short while later, a truck laden with
maize provided by WFP pulls in through the school gates.
A few women dance briefly in celebration but the rest sit
still, saving their energy for the walk home. And it is not
just the adults who are forced to marshal their strength.
The 328 children at Chidobe primary school have also had many
of their afternoon activities scaled back.
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"We had to stop some
of our core curriculum activities like soccer and netball because
the children don't have the energy," said the school's headmaster,
Reason Ncube. "They need all their strength for classes and
for the walk home after school."
DAILY DOSE
Fortunately, Chidobe primary school is covered
by a supplementary feeding programme, which is run by a local
non-government organisation (NGO), the Organisation of Rural
Associations for Progress (ORAP), and funded by the British
government.
Every day, the children receive a litre of a nutritious drink
known locally as Mahewu. It was only intended to provide some
additional nutrition and an extra incentive to stay in school,
but their daily dose of Mahewu has now become the main meal
for many of the children of Chidobe.
And when supplies run out, the effect is immediately apparent.
"When there is no Mahewu, the children stop being able to concentrate
in class, while some of them stop coming to school altogether,"
explained Ncube.
"This is a very serious situation and I am worried that more
and more children will drop out in the months to come."
FEARS
Sitting on a log next to the schoolyard fence, Martin Smart
says that he is worried about much more than his children's
education.
Head of the village of Chidobe 4, Smart fears that his people
will start to die, especially when malaria returns with the
rains.
"At the moment we are coping thanks to the food aid but the
situation will get much worse when the rainy season starts in
October," said Smart.
"Everyone knows that sickness and hunger go together and that
diseases like malaria are much more deadly when people are weak."
And unlike in the past, the people of Chidobe have no means
of making any money to help them buy extra food or medicines.
VICTORIA FALLS
Previously, they could count on earning some cash from the tourist
industry at nearby Victoria Falls, either through casual labour
or selling curios. But not now.
Over the past two years, Zimbabwe's once-booming tourist industry
has slackened off.
"In 1992, there was also no food but then we could make money
from the tourists at Vic Falls," said Smart. "But this year,
there are no tourists and there is no way for us to make any
money."
On top of that, the desperate people of Chidobe cannot even
sell their remaining livestock.
Prices have already hit rock bottom but no one is buying because
the animals are in such poor condition. Indeed, some cows have
already died. And it is still a few months until the rains return
to replenish the area's grazing land.
Zimbabwe's
timetable of hunger:
no. of people requiring food aid, 2002-03 |
- June-August 2002: 5,267,000
- Sept-Nov 2002: 6,074,000
- Dec 2002-Mar 2003: 6,074,000
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FOOD AID
Looking tired after helping to unload the
bags of maize, Jonathan Ncube explains that he has thought
seriously about leaving the area.
With no food in the house and no means of supporting his five
children, 49-year old Ncube says that - like many other people
- he considered migrating in search of work.
However, the deliveries of WFP food aid have kept him in Chidobe.
They have also kept many people alive.
"There are so many starving people here in Chidobe," he said,
pointing at the long line of men and women waiting for their
maize ration. "Some people complain that we are not given
enough food but it keeps my children alive. And anyway, if
someone gives you a hand, you shouldn't ask for a whole arm."
But Jonathan Ncube does have one request - that the food aid
continues right up until the next maize harvest in April 2003.
If it doesn't, he has no doubts about what will happen. "If
the food aid stops, people here will start to die," he said
quietly. "I mean it. You will be burying us in dozens."
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