Unicef has reported that Namibians are facing the worst drought in 30 years – leaving a third of the population unsure about their next meal.

 

Kariamakuju Kauta lifts some of the dry dusty sand from what was her field of maize and vegetables. She now only has one week’s supply of maize. After that, she is not sure how she will feed her family.

 

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As she takes shelter from sun under a simply constructed covering made up of wood and sheeting with her four grandchildren, she explains that it is children who are struggling the most to cope with a drought which has swept across this southern African nation and its northern neighbour Angola.

 

"Children are going to bed hungry," she says. "They wake up in the morning and they are not eating anything. [They] are fainting because of hunger."

 

Her family is one of the few left in the village, about 30k from the town of Opuwo in north-west Namibia.  Others have gone to town to collect and sell wood, abandoning any hope that either help or rains will come soon.

 

Namibia is a country prone to droughts, but this one is said to be the worst in three decades. An estimated 778 000 Namibians, which equates to a third of the population, are either severely or moderately food insecure. To cope, families are selling assets such as livestock, reducing the number of meals eaten in a day, and many are migrating to cities to find work.

 

On May 17 2013, the government declared a drought emergency and committed 207-million Namibian dollars (about 20-million USD) to provide food and water to affected people. It has called on the international community to assist. The government is already distributing maize to all 13 regions and plans to drill boreholes and, where necessary, truck water. Despite the early response, Hellen Likanda, deputy director of the directorate of disaster risk management (the unit responsible for the implementation of the drought response plan) said in a briefing recently that as the number of affected people increases, it is evident that there will be "a significant funding gap".  

 

Unicef has appealed for 7.4-million USD to respond to the estimated 109 000 children at risk of malnutrition. "Women and children are really bearing the brunt of the drought," said Micaela Marques de Sousa, Unicef Namibia’s representative. "In addition to supporting the government and key partners like the Namibian Red Cross, we are focusing on making sure communities have access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, that communities are educated about nutrition and early infant feeding, and that school attendance is being monitored."

 

The drought is aggravating an already serious rate of stunting in Namibia - 29% of children under five are stunted. Therefore, in an emergency, early detection of malnutrition can often mean the difference between life and death.

 

In the Ovahimba village of Omawangete, 23-year-old Julita Hamukuaja checks the circumference of three-year-old Kaveku’s upper arm -- a technique used as part of malnutrition screening. Julita is a health extension worker who has been working in this village since 2012 and has seen firsthand the slow slide into hunger these families have endured. As the situation worsens with the onset of the dry season, expected to last until December, her role will become more critical in ensuring children who show signs of malnutrition receive the treatment they need and that children with severe cases of malnutrition are referred to health centres in time.

 

Usually the Ovahimba children are fed on a protein rich diet of milk and meat.  Now they are forced to eat a watery maize porridge, often only once a day. While Julita checks Kaveku’s temperature, his mother, Kamuhambiya mashes red ochre used traditionally by the Ovahimba for cosmetic purposes and as a natural sunscreen. She shakes her head as she says: "My children are not getting enough food because there is no milk and the cattle are dead." She adds that while she has registered for the government maize rations she has not received anything yet. So she and several other families are reliant on the meager monthly pension of 500 Namibian dollars (about 50USD) collected by one of the elders in the village to buy maize.

 

Kamuhambiya says she will wait out the drought, as the people usually do. But with two years of consecutive drought in this region, it remains to be seen if she and the other families will have the strength to do so this year.