Johnny Hobbles
Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2023
- Messages
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Hello folks - well, we headed to a very hot, dry Zambia on February 1st and returned to relatively mild Ontario weather on March 8th. And just like the change in seasons and temperatures, the difference between these two worlds couldn't be much greater.
We left behind a money-less, subsistence culture in exchange for our well-accustomed prosperous and comfortable lifestyle - endless amounts of food, easy accommodations and few worries about tomorrow (aside from severe political concerns).
This south-central African nation has rapidly dwindling food stocks on hand, as is relatively normal as their harvest season would normally be approaching now. However, what we witnessed over there is perhaps an unfolding disaster of unmatched proportions - a drought that reaches from Congo down to the bottom of South Africa.
An unusually strong El Nino has significantly shifted their weather patterns, causing the seasonal rains to stop falling in the end of January.
It isn't clear whether the massive, Hunga Tonga volcano (January 2022) has added to the weather disturbance. This underwater volcano spewed record amounts of water vapor 35 miles into the stratosphere, so much that it has caused the jet stream to shift northwards, resulting in a very mid winter in southern Ontario.
The vast majority of rural Zambians rely on their maize crop (white corn) for their annual sustenance, planting it in December and harvesting it mainly in June. When the rains stopped in January much of the maize was from emerging stage to early tasseling. Their individual crops vary in size from a small patch in their yard to several acres, which would give them plenty extra to sell.
By late February, most of the fields we saw had withered up and turned brown. Their main food supply for the next year was ......GONE. Many would have a few vegetables growing but not nearly enough to replace their staple - white maize.
Our road travels took us from Lusaka - their capital - as far as 9 hours south to Livingstone where we again visited the spectacular Victoria Falls. In that distance of several hundred miles, there was hardly one field of maize that would produce the big, white cobs which normally feed them for the next year. Only a few irrigated fields owned by large farms would produce anything.
Millions of people in several countries will have almost nothing to eat for the next 14 months - and only then if the rains return to normal.
I want to believe that what we saw firsthand isn't so. But it is affirmed by what appears posted on government websites from the affected countries - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Congo, DRC...
South Africa is a large exporter of maize but since their crop has also been hit, they will have little surplus.
I got to know a few more of the local people on this trip. I asked one young man, "What will you do?"
After a moments hesitation, he replied, "I don't know".
"Will your government help you?' I asked.
"The government can't feed us all", he replied.
Indeed, Zambia is a heavily indebted nation, kept poor by endemic corruption and unscrupulous foreign interests which too often exploit their resources - mainly their rich copper deposits.
The prospect is heartbreaking.
Again, I deeply hope that it isn't nearly as bad as it appears.
But it looks like it's a situation where, unless the wealthier nation step up to help, then........
More to come.
We left behind a money-less, subsistence culture in exchange for our well-accustomed prosperous and comfortable lifestyle - endless amounts of food, easy accommodations and few worries about tomorrow (aside from severe political concerns).
This south-central African nation has rapidly dwindling food stocks on hand, as is relatively normal as their harvest season would normally be approaching now. However, what we witnessed over there is perhaps an unfolding disaster of unmatched proportions - a drought that reaches from Congo down to the bottom of South Africa.
An unusually strong El Nino has significantly shifted their weather patterns, causing the seasonal rains to stop falling in the end of January.
It isn't clear whether the massive, Hunga Tonga volcano (January 2022) has added to the weather disturbance. This underwater volcano spewed record amounts of water vapor 35 miles into the stratosphere, so much that it has caused the jet stream to shift northwards, resulting in a very mid winter in southern Ontario.
The vast majority of rural Zambians rely on their maize crop (white corn) for their annual sustenance, planting it in December and harvesting it mainly in June. When the rains stopped in January much of the maize was from emerging stage to early tasseling. Their individual crops vary in size from a small patch in their yard to several acres, which would give them plenty extra to sell.
By late February, most of the fields we saw had withered up and turned brown. Their main food supply for the next year was ......GONE. Many would have a few vegetables growing but not nearly enough to replace their staple - white maize.
Our road travels took us from Lusaka - their capital - as far as 9 hours south to Livingstone where we again visited the spectacular Victoria Falls. In that distance of several hundred miles, there was hardly one field of maize that would produce the big, white cobs which normally feed them for the next year. Only a few irrigated fields owned by large farms would produce anything.
Millions of people in several countries will have almost nothing to eat for the next 14 months - and only then if the rains return to normal.
I want to believe that what we saw firsthand isn't so. But it is affirmed by what appears posted on government websites from the affected countries - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Congo, DRC...
South Africa is a large exporter of maize but since their crop has also been hit, they will have little surplus.
I got to know a few more of the local people on this trip. I asked one young man, "What will you do?"
After a moments hesitation, he replied, "I don't know".
"Will your government help you?' I asked.
"The government can't feed us all", he replied.
Indeed, Zambia is a heavily indebted nation, kept poor by endemic corruption and unscrupulous foreign interests which too often exploit their resources - mainly their rich copper deposits.
The prospect is heartbreaking.
Again, I deeply hope that it isn't nearly as bad as it appears.
But it looks like it's a situation where, unless the wealthier nation step up to help, then........
More to come.
