Zimbabweans Digging Riverbeds in Desperate Search for Water Amid Severe Drought

One of the worst droughts in living memory is sweeping across southern Africa, leaving nearly 70 million people without adequate food and water. In Zimbabwe's Mudzi district, residents are facing extreme hardship as they struggle to find water in the parched riverbeds. The Vombozi River, which usually flows year-round, has dried up, forcing the local community to dig into the sandy river floor in search of the last drops of water. Armed with shovels and buckets, men, women, and children laboriously extract murky, brown water to meet their basic needs.

The dire situation in Mudzi is a reflection of the wider crisis affecting Zimbabwe, where 7.7 million people face hunger. As rivers and dams dry up, more people are converging on the same water sources, intensifying the pressure on dwindling supplies. Women like Gracious Phiri, a mother of five, now spend up to three hours daily walking to fetch water. The unsanitary conditions, with cattle drinking from the same pits as people, raise serious health concerns. “I have never seen anything like this,” says Phiri, worried about the impact on her family’s health.

Food scarcity is worsening as well. The local health authority reports that the number of families with access to sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food has dropped by more than half compared to previous years. Children are particularly vulnerable, with hospital admissions for malnutrition doubling since June. A village feeding program, supported by the government and UNICEF, provides vital nutrition for under-fives, but the frequency has been reduced from three times a week to just once, due to the ongoing drought.

The situation is exacerbated by the failure of the rains across most of southern Africa, a region heavily reliant on rainfall for agriculture. The drought has led to a significant reduction in food production, with even hardy crops like baobab fruit becoming scarce. Farmers like Tambudzai Mahachi, who once supplied markets in Harare, are now struggling to feed their own children. The lack of rain has not only decimated crops but also dried up boreholes that supply water to clinics and suspended irrigation schemes crucial for local agriculture.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has declared a state of disaster, with 68 million people across the region in need of food aid. However, only a fraction of the $5.5 billion needed has been received. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the situation will likely worsen, as October, the hottest and driest month, approaches.

With the next harvest not expected until March if the rains arrive in November or December, the region faces a prolonged crisis. Mahachi, like many others, is unsure of what lies ahead as she struggles to feed her family amidst an escalating humanitarian disaster.