A sand bed and a mud patch are all that remain of the Kapotesa Dam in Mudzi district, which once provided vital water for crops and livestock in this remote region of northeastern Zimbabwe.
Nearby, farmer Georgina Kwengwere walks among corn stalks dried up by the drought that is devastating her country and leaving millions in need of food aid.
“I haven’t harvested anything despite all my efforts and all my savings to buy seeds,” said the 54-year-old woman, shaking her head in despondency. “Not even a single ear of corn.”
The Kapotesa dam dried up in May, Kwengwere said. “Only God knows how we will survive until the next harvest next year.”
When the rains are good, the water from the dam allows Kwengwere and her husband to grow vegetables to feed themselves and their six children. There is even a surplus that they can sell to buy livestock and pay school fees.
Kwengwere now has to join other villagers on a daily 5km walk to a business centre in the small town of Kotwa to look for odd jobs so he can buy food.
On a good day, she earns about $3; on a bad day, she makes the long trek back to her village in Mafuta empty-handed.
Like most villagers in this district of about 164,000 people, his family has cut back on meals to just two a day.
“Most of us have nothing to eat at home,” said Takesure Chimbu, 58, also from Mafuta. “Without water, everything is destroyed.”
Malnutrition cases have increased by about 20 percent in Mudzi over the past three months, said district medical officer Kudzai Madamombe.
“Food is quite expensive in the district, especially since we are prone to drought,” he said, appealing for help from the government.
In response to this increase in malnutrition, health experts in Mudzi have developed a nutritional porridge called maworesa, which means “the best” in the local Shona language.
It is made from inexpensive, locally sourced ingredients such as eggs, sweet beans and baobab fruit provided by villagers.
The porridge was concocted to cover basic nutritional needs by including carbohydrates, proteins, fruits and vegetables, Madamombe said.
“This has greatly contributed to reducing malnutrition using the least amount of money possible while ensuring that every child in every family receives at least four basic food groups at least once a week,” he said.
Zimbabwe and neighbouring Malawi and Zambia are among the southern African countries worst hit by malnutrition after a severe drought that experts say was made worse by the El Niño phenomenon.
In May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of disaster, saying Zimbabwe needed at least $2 billion to respond to the drought.
At least 7.6 million people, nearly half the population, need assistance, the UN said in May. Children under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women are the most affected.
“The harvests have not been as good as they should have been,” said Yves Willemot, UNICEF’s communications officer in Zimbabwe. “Most people are living in a pretty dire situation, with a lack of access to water and food.”
In early June, the UN launched an appeal for $429 million to help Zimbabwe cope with the drought.
“So far, except for internal resources and resources from the UN safe, we have not received any contributions yet,” Mr Willemot said.
