The Herald (Zimbabwe)

A tale of resilience and relief: Villagers find hope amidst drought

WHEN the first rains fell on October 16 last year, Mrs Dorothy Ngara (65) was nursing her bedridden husband. Sekuru Ngara had been in hospital since July, so she could not plant her crops along with those that used the first rains.

Since the weather forecast had predicted that the rain season would start in earnest much later, so she told herself she still had time.

Unfortunat­ely, on November 1 her husband died.

“His death really hit me hard and it took me time to recover. Even when the rains finally came, I could not do much but my grandchild­ren planted a small portion of the land. But even that did not do well because a dry spell quickly followed and that crop became a write off,” she said.

Grief coupled with the prospect of hunger brought about by the El Nino induced drought worsened Mrs Ngara’s plight.

She had been left with 13 grandchild­ren to feed and the future looked bleak.

Her lifeline appeared in the form of the Government’s Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy, which was launched in response to the Zimbabwe Livelihood Assessment (ZimLAC).

The programme, which was aimed at addressing the country’s food insecurity, has come to the rescue of more than 7 million other Zimbabwean­s who face the same fate as Mrs Ngara.

“If it was not for the Government which came to my rescue, my family and I would be dead by now. Imagine, surviving on water alone, yet you have 13 people that are looking up to you to find them something to eat. We are grateful that we got three month’s supply of grain and we are now looking forward to receiving another consignmen­t soon. Government is helping us and we are grateful, especially us with huge families,” she said.

In addition to food aid, Government has also implemente­d various initiative­s to support vulnerable families.

These include agricultur­al extension services, which provide farmers with training and resources to improve their yields, and school feeding programmes, which ensure that children receive a nutritious meal at school.

Mrs Ngara’s grandchild­ren have been enrolled under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) and one will be sitting for his Grade 7 examinatio­ns this year.

“In every other aspect, Government is assisting us even in agricultur­e. While we are receiving food, we have already started preparing land for the Pfumvudza programme and we will be receiving inputs soon.

“We are also working with our Agritex officers on another programme to make stock feed. We get the fertiliser and other inputs from Government. This is really uplifting us and our livelihood­s,” she said.

Mrs Ngara is among the 52 000 villagers in Chirumanzu who have benefitted under the Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy.

District social developmen­t officer Mr Norest Manyozo said the ZimLAC assessment had played a significan­t part in mapping the most vulnerable population in

Chirumanzu.

“During the ZimLAC process people were forthcomin­g with informatio­n pertaining to their livelihood­s. We used the informatio­n to identify the vulnerable population in the district and it also helped in planning with other stakeholde­rs on interventi­ons to be implemente­d.

“So far, we have quite a number of families that are benefiting from the Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy because most of them did not get a good harvest,” he said.

He said the most affected were families headed by women, children, the elderly and disabled persons.

Ward 4 councillor Mr Willias Danga commended Government for coming through with a programme that was targeting everyone affected by hunger.

“Government emphasised that no food should be distribute­d on partisan lines. So everyone who is deserving is getting food no matter which political party they belong to. We are now focusing on the developmen­t agenda and as leaders, we bring everyone together so that we find solutions that benefit everyone.

“This year, we did not get any food and we are grateful to the Government for ensuring that no person suffers from hunger under our watch,” he said.

While there is more that can still be done for villagers in Chirumanzu and other areas, Mrs Ngara’s resilience in the face of adversity is a testament to the strength of the human spirit. With the support of the Government and its partners, there is hope that she can overcome the challenges posed by the drought and build a better future for her family.