By Alexander Matheou, regional representative of
the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies
 |
| A field of maize wilts due to drought in Malawi. Photo by: T. Samson / CIMMYT |
On the third page of a recent edition
of Malawi’s leading daily newspaper, there was a small article stating that the
number of people facing hunger in the country is now 1.97 million. That
represents approximately eleven percent of the population and is a 21 percent
increase from the last estimate. The rest of the paper covered business as
usual.
There is nothing immediately dramatic
about this hunger crisis. People are not dying. Populations are not moving.
There are no visible epicentres around which media can mobilize to take
heart-wrenching photographs.
The crisis has not happened suddenly.
Visitors over the years would notice the gradual erosion of greenery, the
deforestation, the growing barrenness of the landscape around villages, but
even the villagers themselves barely distinguish this year from the one before.
Their hunger has become chronic.
Yet the impact of their hunger in 2012
will shape the rest of their lives, particularly the lives of the children.
In the village of Nedi, 25-year-old
Patricia Patero is already a mother of four. Like her neighbors, her family has
been hit by another year of poor rains and poor harvest. She sold her few
household belongings months ago and now supplements her income by chopping down
any remaining trees and selling them as charcoal, or working as casual labor in
the nearby fields, picking weeds in exchange for mangoes. This may bring in
four to five dollars a week.
The money doesn’t go far, not with
inflation at 28 percent and the price of her main food source, maize, now
double what it was last year. Her coping strategy is to reduce the amount of
food her family eats every day, from two small meals per day to one.
Other villagers have similar stories.
Fathers regret having to take their children out of school to work as casual
laborers in the fields. Mothers fear for how frequently their weakened children
are falling sick with malaria and diarrhoea. Teachers speak of a 20 percent
drop in school attendance due to hunger-related absences. Grandparents and
parents worry particularly for the young girls, so easily abused — a risk
made even more severe by the country’s eleven percent HIV prevalence rate. One
grandmother estimates that most girls over the age of eleven in her village are
now involved in sexual transactions for food.
These children may not die from hunger
in this crisis, but they will suffer damage for the rest of their lives.
Malnutrition in childhood leads to lifelong losses in cognitive capacity and
health. Micronutrient deficiencies permanently affect immune systems. Stunting
is rooted in poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days from conception to a
child’s second birthday, and results in permanent damage in capacities to learn
and generate income. These traits shape limitations for generations.
The situation is even worse in
villages further from market centres. In the village of Wandarford Tugadya,
poverty is everywhere, but it is most acute in households headed by elderly
women caring for grandchildren orphaned by HIV. Veronica is in her early 60s
and cares for five grandchildren. Her only income is a few dollars per week for
cutting grass and weeding. She feeds the children with little bits of maize
flour and rough, wild fruits. On a good day they have one small meal, but often
none at all. Veronica herself is listless and disoriented. Her grandchildren
are prone to stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.
The villagers, the government and aid
agencies are unanimous that there needs to be several months of food
distribution to support communities through a crisis that will hit its peak in
the leanest months of December to March. All agree that food alone is not
enough, and that the recovery will have to promote economic regeneration which
acknowledges that rain-fed agriculture will not provide sustainable food
security for growing populations in what appears to be a climate now
characterized by unpredictable rains.
In 2012, much of Africa is beginning
to benefit from growing economies and confidence but small, rural, resource
poor and landlocked countries like Malawi will continue to struggle and be
fragile in the face of rainfall patterns and external trends in fuel and food
commodity prices.
The extent of that fragility is sadly
evident now. The numbers affected and severity of the hunger are such that
international support is urgently needed.
DEVEX
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