Surviving El Niño: A Tale of Resilience and Hardship

66-year-old Lessy sits quietly at the corner of her house, tears streaming down her face as she wonders where her next meal will come from. The sun beats down relentlessly, and her youngest grandchild, 15-month-old Twaambo, cries in hunger—his last meal was a day, at noon.

Lessy's community in the Pemba district of Zambia's Southern Province is one of many areas in the country devastated by drought. Although she planted crops last season, her efforts yielded nothing. The once-thriving fields, green with life, are now cracked and barren.

Each day is a struggle. Lessy relies on her children for food, but it has been over five days since they could send anything. "I rely on my children to help me with food, but they’re also struggling," she says, her voice heavy with worry.

Meanwhile, little Twaambo has been crying non-stop. He drifts off to sleep for a few moments, but hunger always wakes him. "He won’t stop crying until he eats something," Lessy says as she rises to ask a neighbour for a bowl of nshima.

"At least now he’ll sleep after this meal," she sighs, watching Twambo as he deeps his little hands in his bowl of nshima with okra. "But I still don’t even know where to start looking for food or what to prepare for supper. The day is still long but hopeless."

The effects of the drought have not only left people hungry but also led to an increase in theft, as people steal anything they can find to sell for food. Lessy owned 28 chickens that she depended on for eggs and meat for her grandchildren, but they were all stolen.

“Now, because everyone is hungry, we are also affected by thieves. My chickens were stolen, and now I have nothing left. My maize barn is empty, and so is my chicken coop,” she sadly says.

Despite the hardships, Lessy remains determined to provide for her grandchildren with whatever little she can afford. With the small amount of money she had remained with, she managed to buy 5 kilograms of maize bran, which she further pounded to make a traditional brew to keep them going for a few days.

World Vision Zambia, in partnership with the Government of Zambia and other stakeholders, is working to support families affected by droughts like Lessy’s with relief food and other interventions to help them overcome the impacts of the drought in Pemba District.