“Kilimanjaro? Serengeti? Ngoron-goro crater?”
“No,” I responded to a fellow traveller at the Dar es Salaam airport. I had been visiting Shinyanga, a less-frequented region of Tanzania.
Just a day earlier I was in the drought-affected Kishapu district of Shinyanga, visiting communities where Presbyterian World Service and Development and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank will provide food assistance until the summer harvest.
Kishapu district usually experiences two rainy seasons: mvuli or short rains, and masika or long rains. The Mvuli rains usually begin by November, and farmers plant crops then for a February harvest. The masika rains usually begin by March, when farmers plant another set of crops for an August harvest.
Last year, the short rains in Kishapu began in November but stopped after only two days. Many farmers had planted maize and other crops, which are now stunted or completely dried up. Farmers experienced the double loss of both their mvuli harvest and their seeds.
In response, PWS&D and CFGB will support 11,400 people in Kishapu district by providing maize, beans, oil and salt through our local partner, the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania. As part of the program, 250 farmers will be trained on climate adaptation and mitigation strategies related to drought. Each of these 250 farmers are in turn expected to pass on the training to five other farmers.
At a gathering in the Mayanji village
of Kishapu, the 100 villagers present apologized for the small number that gathered to meet us. They said most of the men left the community seeking work as casual labourers to earn money to buy food for their families. They explained they are thankful when they are able to afford a one-kilogram bag of maize flour because there are days when a family has nothing. On those days, edible plants are gathered for a meagre soup. Any grain stored after the harvest last August is now depleted, and seeds held in reserve were either planted in November— with an almost total loss—or have been consumed as food. When I asked how many people only ate one meal a day, the majority raised their hands; the remainder raised their hands at two meals a day. Thankfully, the World Food Program is providing grains for a primary school feeding program in Mayanji.
The second community of Miyugyu appears even worse off. The land is almost desert-like in some areas. In this community there is no school feeding program and the villagers expressed concern, especially for the elderly, widows and the ill.
In both communities I was struck by the obviously lean appearance of the men who are farmers. Similarly, the very lean livestock was another reminder of lack of water and resulting lack of vegetation for grazing. Villagers report that the price of cattle and goats has fallen significantly, in many cases to less than half of what they were.
The villagers of Mayanji and Miyugyu expressed thanks to the church in Canada who will help them get through these difficult times. “Tell them we are thankful, for God blesses
you to bless us.”
