This is the most disturbing story I encountered – while SOS had provided her a great service, she had clearly paid a high price over the years from malnourishment, illness, hunger and thirst – this woman is only 60 years old – 2 years older than me.
This woman lives in a neighbouring farming community has eight children living with her. Before they were farmers but due to the clogged irrigation system, the community has suffered the loss of their traditional livelihood.
All around the village there are signs of high winds – soil, like snow drifts are piled up around the houses and the irrigation ditches quickly fill up. The men in the community constantly dig out the silt from the ditches but it is a losing battle as long as the drought continues.
They are happy about the rains and have planted but even if the rains keep up, it will be several months before they can harvest and begin feeding themselves again.
It is due to the timely delivery of food supplements that they are still alive today. They don`t know what they will do if they don`t have any more food aid in the coming months – this is what some call the green famine – the crops are growing but not ready to be harvested. She asked me to appeal to the international communities for more assistance.
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