For people in Murewa, in Pfungwe, every sunrise and sunset is proving to be nightmarish especially for families with school going children who need meals when they leave for and come back from school.
Never mind the hustles that those that stay at home have to go through to make sure they at least have a close to a descent lunch meal.
The El Nino induced drought which hit the country in the 2015/16 farming season has left a devastating trail for people in Pfungwe who are struggling to get just a single meal per day.
Having barely harvested nothing, the Pfungwe people are reeling from the drought which is as a result of climate change perpetuated by global warming.
Narrating how they are managing to feed their families, one wonders if they are reading from a script on some documentary but this a real and dire situation that these rural folks are faced with.
Speaking to 263chat on the sidelines of a Seed and Food Fair which coincided with a climate change hearing organized by Oxfam in Zimbabwe last week, most villagers revealed that government has abandoned them as it has dismally failed to provide food assistance.
Barbra Mutize, a mother of four, narrated how she and her kids survive on Baobab fruits (mawuyu), Uapaca kirkiana (mazhanje) Snot Apple (matohwe).
“We take mawuyu and grind them into a fine powder. After that we sieve the powder so that we are left with very fine granules which can make porridge. We mix the powder with cold water and stir until we have a thick mixture. We then add a bit of sugar to make it edible,” narrated Mutize.
Another hunger stricken villager identified as Amai Paul, who leads a “better life” simply because she occasionally gets food supplies from her long distance relative , said as long as her children have a meal in the morning , the rest is a bonus.
“I cook porridge every morning, I add peanut butter and that will be it for the day. My children will spend the day on that, they are used to having just one meal,” said the single mother of two who claimed that her husband left her a year ago, in search of “greener pastures” and has not returned since.
Some villagers have resorted to doing menial jobs so that they supplement the little food reserves they have.
Others have sought refuge in areas such as Mazowe River to do gold panning so that they can earn a few dollars and send back home.
Such is the situation that for 16 year old Munyaradzi Chokuda, he had to drop out of school to fend for his mother and two younger siblings.
He said “after I realized that we were faced with a very critical situation, I left home to join other young men and girls who are panning gold along the Mazowe River,
“I’m supposed to be in form three right now but I had no option as I was faced with a situation where I had to watch us all die slowly due to hunger or I had to do something about it to save my family. I’m the father of this family because my father passed away a few years ago so I had to stand up for them,” narrated the teenager.
Munyaradzi is just one of many boys and girls who dropped out of school in search survival means.
They too, if not gold panning, have to survive on wild fruits or wait for food aid from donors like Oxfam, World Food Program etc.
The situation is worsened by the fact that water has become a scarce commodity which rarely is available.
The nearest place for villagers who reside close to Chibika Business Center is close to 4 kilometers away.
It is so dire a situation that for most of them to actually get access to this precious liquid, they have to spend the night at the borehole queuing to fetch some water.
“We wake up in the middle of the night and walk about 4 kilometers just to access water, sometimes we even camp there through the night since the queues will be longer, “ said Samantha Gurumombe who leaves her five year old son unattended just so she can join the long queues.
Not only has water shortages affected human lives, livestock is also feeling the pinch as pastures have virtually dried leaving a devastating situation in the usually hot and dry area.
However, there seem to be a silver lining for the country and the Sub Saharan region which was affected by the El Nino as the Meteorological Services Department has predicted normal to above normal rainfall for the 2016/17 agricultural season.
With most families languishing in hunger, it is time that government through the Ministry of Social Service steps up and rescue families from this tragedy. More needs to be done in as far as addressing food shortages is concerned.
The World Food Program estimates that close to 2 million people are in urgent need of food aid and the number is more likely to grow as we await the coming of the rain season.
