Hope Within Drought Crisis

By Collins Kaumba, Donor Liaison, Zambia

The streams are completely dry. Each drop of water is treasured more than gold. Barns still stand firmly within villages, but offer emptiness. It is almost impossible to find a maize grain dropped anywhere around the homesteads, even with a chicken’s scratch and pecking. Children in villages are known to spend their time playing after school, instead they mostly linger around adults’ meeting places calmly but curiously. 

This is the situation in most communities of Namwala, which once was a major contributor to Zambia's food basket. It is not only known for maize production but also as a major source of cattle. However, the effects of the drought experienced last farming season [2023-2024] in the southern half of Zambia have changed almost everything in the lives of many families in the area. It is no longer life as usual.

“The district has hugely been impacted negatively. Of the entire population of 168,000 people in Namwala district, 98% harvested nothing. They still need food and water for humans and animals to save lives,” said Ephraim Shandavu, District Commissioner.

But not all hope is lost. Communities in Mbeza Area Programme (AP) where World Vision has been operating for over 10 years now have a different story to tell, thanks to the organisation’s donors and partners.

Deep in Hankanga and Chibola villages, there lies a huge dam and a 20,000-litre tank that provide sustainable water for animals and gardening. The dam in Hankanga, constructed between 2022 and 2023, has plenty of much-needed water for thousands of livestock, especially cattle. 

That is not all. Gardens with quality vegetables line up along the dam. It is providing enough water for all households’ gardens. “These gardens are our only source of income right now for a person like me to feed and provide for my children’s school needs. We would have died by now had this dam not been made to save us from this hunger crisis this year,” Melody, a mother of five children whose ages range from two to 15, says.

“Thank you, World Vision. Before this dam was built, we used to have a small stream passing through it, but it would dry up by July or August. How would we have survived if this dam was not here?” Melody asks, adding that. “The vegetables provide us with income to buy maize and nutrition for the family.” 

For cattle owners, the dam is an even bigger blessing. Other than providing water for the animals to enhance their milk production and health, the animals and cattle headers no longer have to walk about 16km [9.9 miles] that they used to walk every day to find water.

“The animals and human beings used to tire walking long distances every day to Kafue river due to limited water to drink. That increased animal diseases and reduced milk production, which is the source of income for many families who needed it in times like this when we have the hunger crisis,” said Justine Nc’ube, a village headman.

“Many families are still able to supply milk at the collection centre because of the benefit of having plenty of water for the animals,” Justine explains. “Children also have time to concentrate on their education as opposed to the past when they were forced out of school to take the animals to Kafue river for water.”

The Niko Milk Collection Centre, where World Vision provided a solar-powered mechanised water system and flushable toilets, has continued to function effectively. Good milk is received from different households and brought to the centre for sale. With running water accessible throughout, the centre can maintain high hygiene standards before the milk is supplied to Parmalat, a company that makes products such as yoghurt in Lusaka.

Further southeast of the dam in Chibola village is a population of almost 250 people who are producing lots of vegetables, tomatoes, and green maize, among other things, to sell and raise income to survive the effects of drought.

“I am able to raise about K1200 after selling green maize alone from the garden per month. I make about K1000 from selling tomatoes and K800 from vegetables every month. This has saved us from hunger, although we are forced to cut on some expenses to save money for food,” Roster Hikobwa, 60, says. 

“If World Vision did not provide the water for us, I don’t think we would have managed to cope with the hunger situation that is affecting most families in Namwala who do not have the water we have right now,” Roster says.  With a 25kg bag of mealie-meal [maize powder] fetching between K235 to K265 at the time in Namwala, these families at least had the income to buy mealie meals anytime they needed the commodity for their families. They no longer have to wait for their turn to come, as a requirement per village, to go and buy maize at the Food Reserve Agency. They can access mealie-meal on the market.

World Vision has also partnered with the government’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) under the Office of the Vice President to provide relief food in Namwala, among many other places countrywide.

“We are giving free food only to the most vulnerable, such as the aged and people living with disability,” Mbeza AP Manager Michael Chiyombwe says. World Vision has also channelled part of its funds meant for developmental programmes in addition to Private Non-Sponsership Funds (PNSF) from the USA towards emergency needs. The rest of the people are accessing the food through food-for-work initiative where people are required to provide sand, stones and other needed local materials to construct classroom blocks for example.

World Vision Zambia has also channelled part of its funds towards developmental programmes and private non-sponsored funds (PNSF) from the USA towards emergency needs. This mainly focuses on a school feeding programme to enhance the retention of children in three Districts, including Kafue, Mazabuka and Pemba, reaching a total of 145 schools and over 170,000 learners in the primary section. World Vision Zambia National Director and the British High Commissioner to Zambia’s Humanitarian Adviser, Stephen Gwynne-Vaughan, visited Demu School of Pemba District as one of the beneficiary schools.