The Struggles of Youth Amidst Zimbabwe’s Drought
On a Tuesday morning, while other children attend school, five-year-old Talent is on a quest for fruit. His family’s crops have wilted under the relentless sun.
The global El Niño phenomenon, wreaking havoc on weather patterns for over a year, coupled with the escalating climate crisis in Africa, leaves Talent’s grandmother, Winnie Chihota, helpless as she witnesses the dreams of a generation fade away.
In the heart of Zimbabwe’s Mudzi district, agriculture serves as a crucial lifeline. When crops fail, survival becomes tenuous. Without harvests, families struggle to meet the $25 school fees or purchase uniforms. Chihota’s own children face the grim prospect of dropping out completely, leaving Talent with no opportunity to start his education.
Lack of crops means children often go without lunch, even when attendees somehow make it to school.
“Just recently, a child fainted from hunger at school,” Chihota recounted while sorting through the meager fruit that Talent and his peers scavenged. This fruit will be dried and saved for future meals, as many families now subsist on a scant single meal of corn or sorghum each day.
Traditional porridge served in rural homes exhibits the severity of Zimbabwe’s current plight, amplified by El Niño-induced droughts. This crisis contributes to rising malnutrition rates among children under five, as well as pregnant and nursing women in places like Kotwa, Mudzi, Zimbabwe (Reuters Photo, July 2, 2024).
As a natural climate pattern, El Niño has unleashed some of the most sweltering days in decades across southern and eastern Africa, while also delivering floods of unprecedented magnitude. This has led to the devastation of countless small farms, setting families adrift.
More than 60% of Zimbabwe’s approximate 15 million inhabitants rely on agriculture for sustenance and income, rendering the immediate specter of hunger an alarming priority. The United Nations Children’s agency reports that around 580,000 children face severe malnutrition, exacerbating an already critical humanitarian situation marked by economic turmoil and disease outbreaks like cholera.
Education, too, hangs in the balance. School has transformed into a luxury few can afford. Many children are compelled to abandon classes for work. Teenage girls often miss school due to inadequate water supplies for hygiene during menstruation or because they must stay home to look after younger siblings while their parents seek work. Some young girls are even pushed into early marriages to alleviate financial pressures, as affirmed by the U.N. humanitarian agency.
This plight, while dire, remains overshadowed by other crises in places like Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, making it challenging for humanitarian organizations to secure donor support.
“We must act with urgency,” urged Yves Willemot, spokesperson for UNICEF Zimbabwe.
The drought jeopardizes the education of nearly 2 million children in Zimbabwe, with some dropping out entirely and others missing class frequently, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency. Over 45,000 children withdrew from schooling during the last El Niño in the 2015-2016 season—3,000 more than the typical annual dropout rate. The government continues to gather data regarding the consequences of the current El Niño.
Neighboring countries ravaged by extreme weather face similar hurdles. In Malawi, the combination of floods and drought over recent years has caused school attendance to plummet. Reports indicate that half of the students in many schools are often absent (May report by local and international humanitarian organizations, including Youth Net and Counselling).
“Families are caught between choosing between food and education,” lamented the report. The absence of volunteer teachers across various schools has further degraded educational quality.
Zambia has launched a school feeding initiative aimed at over 2 million children to bolster school participation.
Zimbabwe recently followed suit, implementing a similar program in response to climbing dropout rates and absenteeism due to the drought. Taungana Ndoro, communication and advocacy director in the education ministry, remarked, “The certainty of at least one nutritious meal each day has motivated families to prioritize sending their kids to school.”
However, for many who have already withdrawn, particularly girls, the situation may be irreparable, according to activist Nyaradzo Mashayamombe, founder of Tag a Life. Her organization’s #everychildinschool campaign advocates for abolishing school fees for impoverished families.
“When faced with drought, the immediate fallback is often marriage. The mere prospect of a way out can seem attractive to a young girl or her parents,” she shared, cautioning that many find themselves trapped in relationships with older, abusive spouses.
“There often seems to be no escape,” she continued. “This snuffs out their potential, truncates their dreams, and perpetuates the cycle of poverty.”
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