Hunger Bites Dowa Villagers

There are disturbing reports coming from the areas of Traditional Authorities Dzoole and Kayembe in Dowa where people are said to have been severely hit by food shortage.

Zodiak understands that in some villages, people have turned to wild plants and mangoes and that malnutrition is taking the toll.

One of the villagers, Valentina Musa from Dzoole village, whom a ZBS crew found preparing banana roots says her children are not going to school because of the devastating hunger that has hit the area.

"We have been heavily hit by hunger and have turned to banana roots which we are pounding and preparing as our meals,” Musa said.

At Dzoole Primary School, we found Headteacher,  Lameck Banda, who echoed Musa's concerns, saying there has been a sharp decrease in enrolment of learners at the school due to hunger.

"This year the school has registered about 1,000 learners, a number which is lesser than last year's 1,500. All this because of the hunger that has hit our catchment area," Banda said.

Traditional Authority Kayembe described this year's hunger situation in her area as strange.

She said some men in her area recently died after eating a suspected poisoned dead pig, saying most men are now flocking to Mzimba to work on tobacco farms.

“Since I was born, this is my first experience of hunger, and we are worried will not have men to bury us," he said.

This year's Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee has projected that about 1 million people need urgent food assistance.

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