Dateline ACT

Swaziland 04/04

ACT member provides relief during drought
Falling rains raise cautious hopes of farmers

by Stephen Padre, ACT International

Swaziland, April 6, 2004--On a morning in late February, the sky was growing darker by the hour. But the threat of rain didn't affect the flurry of activity on a plain near the top of the mountains in this small country on the eastern edge of South Africa. A crowd of people had come for the monthly World Food Program (WFP) distribution, carried out by Lutheran Development Service (LDS), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.

Even if the rain had fallen and soaked the crowd, it would have been reason for the people to be happy. After nearly four years of unreliable rainfall, the rain has been falling again in many parts of Swaziland since the beginning of the year. Falling rain means raised hopes for the small farmers of the lowlands who have not been able to grow their crops during this prolonged drought that has spread across southern Africa.

The shortage of crops has necessitated the supply of food from outside the country for families struggling to find enough to eat. LDS has been handling WFP distributions to the most affected communities since July 2002.

While the rains of the last several weeks are a welcome sight and farmers are hoping that this year the rains will be reliable, the reaction heard over and over is that it is "too late." The rains have come too late in the planting cycle, and farmers did not plant any crops this season again. So the food distributions continue while the farmers wait to plant again.

During the day's distribution of rations, Alice Sihlongo Nyane, a member of the area's relief committee, was in charge. As a resident of a nearby village, she also receives WFP rations herself. LDS coordinates a system in which 11 women and three men from each distribution point are chosen to sit on the relief committee, which oversees the distribution of rations.

Nyane explained the higher number of women on the committee. "Women know the food needs of a household more," she said. To prepare for the distribution of rations, the committee helps assess the community's needs. "As community members, we know everyone," she said. "Who needs what-what food." She said those who are most vulnerable receive food assistance-orphans, widows, the elderly, and households without ways to cope with food shortages or that are affected by HIV/AIDS.

Before the food is distributed, the committee also counts and checks the shipment and looks after it. As Nyane described her tasks, her eyes watched the line of women at the several stations where the different types of food were being distributed. When her turn came to receive her own family's rations, she darted over to the line to take her place in front of the stacks of cooking oil cans.

A total of 945 people were to receive rations this day, each getting a supply of vegetable oil, soya blend, beans and maize for their household. A line of women waited patiently, each with a sack and container or two in hand to take their rations home in.

With support from ACT members around the world, LDS is addressing the immediate needs in the situation through emergency food assistance. It's part of a comprehensive plan to intervene in the more long-term effects of the drought. The plan's components also include helping farmers grow drought-tolerant crops, providing rainwater-storage tanks and attending to the health and nutritional needs of people with HIV.

Driving around the lowlands, one sees large stretches of green where the rains have fallen. Nearly every part of the ground is covered by a thin layer of grass, which springs up quickly when the rains come. Some farmers have taken a chance and planted maize, the African staple food, hoping there will be enough rain this season to harvest a crop. The drought shows signs of easing, but there are still real needs, and LDS is continuing with its relief and longer-term work.

Will this year's rains continue? Will farmers have enough water this year to plant crops so they can feed their families? Eyes are turned upward, hoping the sky has some answers.

This Dateline is part of a series on the drought in southern Africa.

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