Our response in Southern Africa

Unloading grain for distribution in Malawi. Photo: Sarah John/OxfamAUS.

Southern Africa is currently experiencing one of the worst food shortages in the region's history. An estimated 13 million people do not have enough to eat while many face starvation. The worst hit countries are currently Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, while Zambia and Swaziland are also affected. The situation for Malawi, which has been hit hard by the draught over the last year, is improving somewhat, but people are still in need of food aid.

Oxfam Community Aid Abroad launched the Southern Africa Crisis Appeal mid-last year to raise funds to assist people in the region – the Australian public donated $620,000. These funds were used to support projects in Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to provide food, seeds and tools, and improve livelihoods for people. The Australian Government also contributed a further $625,000 to provide a home-based care program for orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Our response

Angola
We funded a program to support people affected by the conflict in Angola. This included ensuring people had enough food to eat, access to clean water, sanitation and shelter, and basic utensils for displaced peoples.

Jennifer Mavajaudo collects food for her family in Malawi. Photo: Sarah John/OxfamAUS.

Zimbabwe
We funded two programs in Zimbabwe, both aimed at alleviating hunger through the provision of food, seeds, tools and supporting the capacity of households and local organisations for longer-term development.

Mozambique
Our long-term partner in Mozambique distributed seeds for planting. We wanted to ensure that people could grow their own food into the future rather than depend on food aid.

On the ground in Malawi

Our programs in Malawi were in the southeastern part of the country, close to the Mozambican boarder. This area has a large number of tea plantations as well as smaller settlements with subsistence farmers. The villages of Mulanje and Phalombe are a couple of hours from the tarmac road at the base of Mount Mulanje. Its location means that rain fall is erratic and often prevented by the natural barrier of the mountain. The land was dry and crops were sparse.

On the trip I met various HIV/AIDS-volunteer groups that are working with chronically ill patients, providing home-based care and help with manual labour, cooking and cleaning.

A woman registers to receive food relief in Malawi. Photo: Sarah John/OxfamAUS.

The food crisis has impacted greatly on the health of almost all the population, none more so than those living with HIV/AIDS. I was also able to visit a food distribution program. While I was there, three trucks arrived with food and approximately 40 women unloaded the trucks and then assembled the sacks of grains under the shade of the trees. Village representatives then collected an allocation of food and distributed it to family members in their community. People were given flour, maize and beans.

Jennifer Mavajaudo is an 18-year-old woman who was collecting food for her family. She has a plot of land 10 by 50 metres and believed that she had enough food for the next two months – after that she did not know where food would come from. She hoped that her husband might be able to get work on a tea plantation where half a day's work provided enough food for a day for one person.

I also visited a community where seeds were being distributed for planting, along with fertilisers and watering cans. As part of the project, our partners provided the community with training on planting and ploughing techniques. This distribution focused on longer-term development, however, the need for the immediate food aid was evident among the community members.

Unfortunately, use of funds was initially delayed due to problems in purchasing the corn soya blend which we distributed. This was soon overcome. We also purchased fair trade beans from the Development Trading Corporation, which caused some delays.

It is too early to see the long-term impact of our programs, however we have been able to alleviate short-term hunger. The donations by the Australian public have certainly made a difference to many people's lives.

For more information about our work in Africa, visit www.oxfam.org.au/world/africa.