Grandmother's Soul Bleeds When Her 8 Orphans Are Hungry
‘I would rather this season of hunger hit me alone, but my soul bleeds when I look at these eight orphans,’ says Mathabo Nkakole, 69, helplessly.
Nkakole's soul hurts because of the loss of her six children and their spouses to AIDS-related illnesses, but it hurts more to feel helpless over her starving grandchildren. She is just too poor to help. This is the triple face of the livelihood emergency that prevails in many poor households in Lesotho where families are simultaneously hit by HIV and AIDS, chronic poverty and hunger.
Nkakole lives in a corrugated iron shack in Qoaling, on the outskirts of Maseru, Lesotho. They have no mattress, blankets, cooking paraffin, no candles or food. Even the nearby groundwater has dried-up and she has to buy water that she cannot afford.
The orphans range from 10 years to two years old, but they are all the same height due to malnutrition. The oldest children could be mistaken for four years old. Only three of them attend primary school.
The government provides Nkakole with R100 (HK$109) monthly, and with that she can buy food for two weeks. Thereafter they stay hungry or rely on their neighbours for help, if any, until the end of the month. Nkakole is weak from hunger and burnt-out from stress. She worries about the well-being of her grandchildren should she die.
When asked what his current needs are, Rethabile, 6, says, ‘I need food, I’m hungry.’
‘Nkakole’s situation exemplifies the plight of many households. We have to respond to avert loss of life and prevent malnutrition at all costs,’ says Martin Silutongwe, World Vision’s Lesotho National Director. ‘It is our vision that every child in Lesotho lives life in all its fullness, therefore we believe that by assisting this household, the children will be able to eat nutritious meals and have strength to play and enjoy life in all its fullness,’ he adds.
World Vision’s livelihood emergency project includes food distribution, seed donation to farmers, nutrition education, and distribution of school uniforms to orphans as well as developmental relief through helping household plant vegetables for nutrition and income generation.
‘I am very happy, I don’t have enough words to express my appreciation,’ says Nkakole after receiving food and other basic supplies from World Vision.
‘I'm happy because today I will eat my favourite dish of maize meal and milk,’ says Rethabile.
In Lesotho, there is often no form of humanitarian assistance, even in urban areas. There are always vulnerable people in need of food aid and other help to free them from the chains of hunger and poverty.
|
