Dateline ACT
Southern
Africa 02/02
Photo
essay: Malawi - a question of survival
Malawi,
July 11, 2002
Photos
& text by Hege Opseth (Norwegian Church Aid)
The extent of the unfolding
food crisis in south-central Africa is becoming ever more evident with
the UN World Food Program estimating that more than 12 million people
in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are in danger of imminent death by starvation.
Causes of the current crisis
are a mixture of natural and human-made factors. Devastating floods
in 2001, followed by extended drought in this current crop season, have
led to an almost total failure of the maize crop upon which so many
in the region depend for survival. Poverty, political instability, infrastructure
inadequacy, and an HIV/Aids infection rate of near-epidemic proportions
(e.g. 20% in Malawi alone) have all contributed to the gravity of the
situation.
With families selling off
available livestock and seed supplies just to stay alive, there is immediate
need for both food and agricultural aid if people in the affected areas
are to survive until the next planting season.
In April Action By Churches
Together (ACT) International issued an appeal for US$1.3 million to
support these emergency efforts of the three ACT members currently working
in Malawi: Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Blantyre Synod,
Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) and the Evangelical
Lutheran Development Programme (ELDP).
In
the Zomba district of Chingale Division in the southern region of Malawi,
the number of children attending school has risen nearly 40 percent
since food-distribution started. ACT member, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
has sent high-protein biscuits (BP5) to this district, working with
CCAP, the only agency distributing food relief in this part of Malawi.
Children are lining up to get their portion of porridge
at Nansambo Primary School. The meal they get at school is often the
only food many of these children will get to eat.
It is cold in Bridget and Margareth's village, Sinos.
The two girls are shivering. They are both suffering from severe malnourishment.
Lack of food makes them extremely vulnerable to illness and disease.
This village has already buried more than 30 children due to the famine
in the area.
Edina is the oldest lady in Sinos village. She has no
food left in her house so must depend on handouts to survive. Food distribution
specifically targets children under five years and pregnant women. "Have
I lived this long only to die of hunger?" she asks. Since the beginning
of this year, starvation has claimed the lives of more than 50 people
in Sinos.
Every week 150 severely malnourished children come to
CCAP's Masaula Center to be weighed. "We have no food to give our children"
the mothers explain.
This young mother is waiting for care with her child
in the clinic at Chifondo. The little one cries and cries.
8 year old Alekeni buried his younger brother who died
of starvation at the end of May this year. The next harvest has already
been destroyed. Now he and his family wait for relief.
Charles Onkoni and his Uncle Button have come to this
feeding center of ACT member, Churches Action in Relief and Development
(CARD), to register for food. Charles is 13 years old, but his growth
has been stunted by severe malnourishment.
"I'm not going to school, and I don’t want to" says Charles,
"how can I, without any food to eat and proper clothes?"
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