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13 November 2002 By Pia Caspersen, in Mokhotlong The engine of the four-wheel drive vehicle has to use all its power to climb the steep mountain road. As far as the eye can see the Drakensberg mountains stretch out against a clear blue sky. In the valleys below us we can see the typical round thatched huts in clusters and small squares of freshly ploughed fields. We are on our way to one of the remotest villages in the Mokhotlong district in the tiny kingdom of Lesotho. A man wrapped in a blue and red coloured blanket passes by on his shiny brown horse; traditional means of transport such as mules, donkeys and horses are far more suitable to this narrow rocky trail than our vehicle. It is not for nothing that this mountainous area, about 3,000 metres above sea level, is called the Roof of Africa. It looks like a picture postcard. But as soon as you enter one of the villages, you realize that this is a place racked by severe hunger. In Likhang we are received by a couple of women, who have been watching us on our way up the hill. Mamakata Sejama invites us to visit her home. She is a widow, 66 years old and heading a household of 10 people, mainly her grandchildren. There is no furniture inside the hut - only some kitchen utensils and mats for sleeping. Her grandchildren form a circle around a plate of porridge, which they share. "This is their only daily meal," she says. "Very often, I have to do without food. If I do not get help from outside, I do not know what I'll do." When we ask her to show us her food stock, she shrugs: "We ploughed and sowed last year but got almost nothing from the harvest - only one bag of maize, which was finished after two months. But in between we used to brew beer. That was the only thing I could do to get money to buy food for the children." Then she explains to us the secret of brewing beer. Maize and wheat are ground down and then boiled. It is left to settle for at least one night. Then she puts up a flag outside the hut to advertise that there is beer for sale. "Usually the men come to drink in the late afternoon, when they have finished their work in the fields. They pay half a Rand (5 US cents) for a tin of beer. But it is getting more and more difficult to brew beer, because we have to buy the ingredients and the prices have risen by 50 per cent," the grandmother says, shaking her head. The situation for the Sejama family is not an isolated case. This is confirmed by the village chief Thabo Tloharebuoe. "More and more families here have got nothing to eat. Some of the villagers have been forced to sell their animals to get money to buy food. Now they have got nothing - not even a chicken," he says. He lights his pipe and adopts a serious expression. "If you sell your cattle or even your field there is nothing left for the children. And more people will be forced to do so," he explains. "And the young generation will never get a chance to learn how to produce effectively in the fields. I don't know what will happen to our village then." According to an assessment made by the South African Developement Committee, selling livestock is one of the most frequently mentioned ways of trying to get money to buy food. But the most dominant strategy - mentioned by 64 per cent of respondents - is brewing and selling beer. Among other common coping strategies are collecting and selling firewood or relying on friends and relatives. In this way the Basotho people in the hard-hit Mokhotlong district might be able to survive the food crisis - at least for a couple of months. But the escalating HIV/AIDS pandemic will wreak further tragedy and loss of life. In Lesotho, one third of the adult population is infected by HIV/AIDS, and in many families the parents are no longer able to work. Last year alone 73,000 Basotho children were orphaned. They are now taken care of by relatives, very often their grandparents. Makhotso Mokone is a widow. She lives in a small stonehut with nine children. Three of her own, and six of her grand children who lost their parents, are staying with her. The youngest is 2 and the eldest is 17 years old. When the Lesotho Red Cross started distributing food in Mokhotlong district last month, she was not among the 47,000 beneficiaries. Asked why, she answers despondently: "I did not get any food, because they told me that, being only 35 years old, I was still fit for work. But I am not. I am sick." Her health is clearly very poor. She coughs all the time. And when she rises up and goes into the hut to get some maize porridge for the kids, she can hardly walk: "I do not have a field, but before I managed to go and work in the fields for other people. I am not able to do that any more. The only thing I can do is to go to the neighbours and beg for food," she explains. In the next round of food distribution Makhotso and her nine children will probably be among the beneficiaries. A newly conducted assesment shows the number of people in need will rise from the currently 160,000 to 650,000 in March 2003, prior to next year's harvest. Related links: Southern Africa food crisis Southern Africa: appeals, updates and reports Make a donation |
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