Calgary Herald
A major food shortage in southern Africa will hit a crisis point within several months and is already putting 13 million people in five countries at risk of starvation, warns the Red Cross. “It became quite clear that things have deteriorated dramatically since around April (or) May,” said Iain Logan, International Red Cross operations manager, while visiting Calgary this week.
Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland already have immense food shortages. Logan said it could spread to Namibia, Mozambique and Angola.
This is the first time the world has seen a famine with so many contributing factors, Logan said. Crops are failing due to drought. Political unrest in Zimbabwe and Malawi is decreasing food production. And there are fewer people to work the farms due to the AIDS epidemic that has infected almost a third of the population.
“There is nobody to work the land. There is nobody to produce the crops. The healthy population is so absorbed in looking after the sick population that the whole productivity in many of the countries has taken a severe consequence,” Logan said.
The Red Cross made an appeal for $95.2 million in May for a food aid project to begin Aug. 23. That money will pay for emergency food, seeds, farm tools, training programs, blankets, medicine, transportation and other overhead costs. The program will last through the planting and harvest seasons in early 2003.
The Red Cross targets those most in need. They will help about 1.3 million people who live in remote areas and children whose families are suffering from AIDS.
“I’ve seen families that consist of maybe as many as 15 or 20 adults, all sick. And the house is being run by a seven-year-old child,” Logan said.
Calgarian Miriam Wiebe, who has worked for World Vision in Malawi for 31/2 years, said villages there used to be an energetic hub of activity. Children played, women husked maize, animals were healthy and the granaries were full. The women and children are now too weak to move, and the men have left in search of food.
“It’s almost like a ghost town,” Wiebe said. “They’re putting several bodies into one grave because no one has enough energy to dig another.”
World Vision is also trying to raise $2 million for its efforts in the region. To donate, call 1-800-268-5528. The Canadian Red Cross is aiming to raise $1 million toward its program. Call 1-800-418-1111 or visit www.redcross.ca to donate.
Copyright 2002 CanWest Global
