Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 25 July 2003
John Sparrow and Selma Bernardi in Silele, Swaziland
Friday
16.00pm
A national food emergency endures in Swaziland, and a new water shortage threatens to worsen it.
Failed harvests due to drought left a quarter of the population dependent on food aid and the present outlook is more of the same. Summer rains didn't come, the autumn was dry and the forecast for winter isn't promising.
AIDS only deepens the problem. Fewer hands in the fields mean less food production. The disease's impact may even exceed that of drought.
Food distributions must continue, says Tihlobotakhe Zulu, food security officer and field coordinator of the Swaziland Red Cross, as he assesses the situation. Even those people who did manage to bring in a harvest will finish their food by October. Between then and the next harvest in April and May, the need will be acute.
Tihlobotakhe is working on reducing vulnerability, making people more able to cope. Forty minutes from Silele, in the dry southeast corner of Shiselweni district, a Red Cross communal garden did produce a harvest, a cash crop of cotton and irrigated maize. Now the land is being ploughed for winter vegetables, cabbages, tomatoes, onions.
The project isn't big, just four hectares, benefiting 40 households, but as a pilot it is working and the community of Mahhashini wants to expand it. Nearby is a poultry project, where day-old chicks are brought to be nurtured and sold. Again it is small, 25 households, generating income and contributing to household welfare.
It is a start. Supported by the Finnish Red Cross, these are two of a number of pioneering projects linked to home-based care efforts for which there is growing interest.
Elsewhere an improved farming venture, and backyard garden and fish farming schemes are under way. Some are targeting AIDS-affected families and increasing nutritional knowledge in the process. The bottom line is helping people bounce back from adversity.
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