Page 6 - AHATA

A5
WORLD NEWS Saturday 20 July 2024
Drought threatens millions of children as school dropouts rise

along with hunger in southern Africa

By FARAI MUTSAKA est El Nino.
Associated Press Regional countries also
MUDZI, Zimbabwe (AP) — devastated by weather
It’s Tuesday morning, and extremes face similar chal-
5-year-old Talent should lenges. In Malawi, hit by a
be in school. Instead, he’s vicious cycle of floods and
foraging for the fruit that drought in the past three
his family is counting on for years, fewer children are
food now that crops have attending class. At some
withered in the heat. schools, half the pupils are
Blame the El Nino phenom- usually absent, according
enon that altered weather to a report in May by local
worldwide for over a year, and international humani-
or the larger problem of cli- tarian organizations in-
mate change that’s bear- cluding the Malawi-based
ing down on the African Youth Net and Counselling.
continent, the region most “Families must choose be-
vulnerable to it. The boy’s tween feeding or sending
grandmother, Winnie Chi- children to school,” the re-
hota, knows she’s watch- port said.
ing part of a generation slip Volunteer teachers are no
away. longer reporting at some
For many in Zimbabwe’s Villagers fetch water from a makeshift borehole in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, on July 2, 2024. schools “further deteriorat-
Associated Press
rural northeastern Mudzi ing the quality of educa-
district, crops mean sur- children’s agency, as the tion.” q
vival. When they fail, the effects of El Nino worsen
future can, too. No income a humanitarian crisis of
means no way to pay the economic hardship and
$25 for school fees or for outbreaks of diseases such
school uniforms. Two of Chi- as cholera.The larger prob-
hota’s own children are at lem is the children’s educa-
risk of leaving school. Little tion. School has become a
Talent never had a chance luxury. Children drop out
to start. to work. Teenage girls are
No crops also mean noth- forced to skip class be-
ing for the children to eat cause there is not enough
for lunch even if they do water to wash during their
make it to class. periods, or because they
“One child fainted recently must stay home to babysit
at the school due to hun- their siblings as parents go
ger,” Chihota said, as she out in search of work. Some
sorted through the fruit that girls are forced to marry to
Talent and other children ease financial burdens, ac-
brought home. The fruit will cording to the U.N humani-
be dried for future meals. tarian agency.
Many families now only eat The crisis is overshadowed
one solid meal of corn or by others in places like
sorghum a day. Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan,
Children are the most at risk humanitarian organizations
after El Nino, a naturally oc- say, meaning that funding
curring climatic phenom- from donors can be hard to
enon, caused some of the come by.
hottest days in decades in “There should be a sense
parts of southern and east- of urgency,” said Yves Wil-
ern Africa. It also caused lemot, UNICEF spokesman
some of the worst flooding for Zimbabwe.
in memory. The drought puts the edu-
It destroyed many of the cation of close to 2 million
tiny farm plots that keep children at risk in Zimbabwe,
families going. More than with some dropping out of
60% of Zimbabwe’s popu- school for good and oth-
lation of around 15 million ers forced to miss class, the
reside in rural areas where U.N. humanitarian agency
agriculture is the major has said. More than 45,000
source of food and in- children dropped out of
come. school during the previous
The immediate concern El Nino in the 2015-2016
is hunger. In Zimbabwe, farming season, 3,000 more
580,000 children are at risk than the annual average, it
of malnutrition, accord- said. The government is still
ing to the United Nations collating figures for this lat-