He sucks dejectedly on a malula fruit, trying to quench his thirst and hunger.
This is the only food left for us .We are starving here. Last year we did not harvest anything and our high hopes of getting a good harvest this season have again been shattered due to the current long dry spell, said Gumbo.
This is the reality of drought in the Chirambahuyo and Mataga areas of Mberengwa. People are short of food and in some instances drinking water while their beasts have no grazing and drinking water. Even the boreholes are drying up.
Seriously affected by the situation are Muketi, Nyamhondo, Chingoma, Mahlebadza, Mudavanhu and Chirambahuyo areas.
Since the beginning of the first term, class attendance in lower grades has dropped. The children are too weak to walk long distances to school. Most families are surviving on one meagre meal a day, said a headmaster at a local primary, who refused to be named for fear of victimization.
The headmaster said girls of school-going age, some as young as 14, have left school and flocked to places like West Nicholson and Zvishavane where there are a lot of gold panners.
When night falls they join the already established groups of old prostitutes at bars and night clubs, trying to entice men to bed for meagre payments. At times they are just so hungry and tired that they just fall asleep exhausted in class, said the headmaster.
Boys have also joined the exodus from school as parents are finding it hard to feed them or pay for school fees and uniforms. These too are reported to have joined in gold panning along Munde, Mwenezi and Runde rivers.
The Midlands Provincial Agritex official, Peter Chamisa, last week told a local weekly that his department recently carried out a survey of the province to assess the condition of crops -and confirmed that the situation was critical.
Crops in most parts of the province have been affected. If we continue experiencing this dry spell, the province is likely to be affected by hunger, said Chamisa.
Post published in: News