Africa is definitely not on the winning side when it comes round to weather. On the eastern side, over 2.3 million people have been sweltering under the severest drought for the past five years.
Farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and adjacent countries have little to show for their toil except parched crops and hardened soil. Complicating the ordeal is that environment is under the blanket of drought which means that it is not only humans that have been smacked but animals also.
To the African, cows, sheep, goats, horses are all wealth. They have all turned to skeletons, leading one commentator to sum it all that East Africa is as dry as a bone. Things have got so bad that hardly any resident in seven countries are hopeful that things will get better soon.
Hardest hit is the availability of water. In the seven drought-stricken states, water remains a jewel whether brownish or darkish but definitely, rule it out as an idlers dream-no colourless, sparkling and potable water is available.
The larger the family, the larger the strain. A family of five for instance, has to recycle two litters of water if they decide to bath once every three days. It would start off with dad using the water, then mum and the children- all using the same water until it turned into an indescribable colour.
As it is now fashionable these days, anything that is difficult to explain precisely is blamed on the climate change, the grind East African countries are now going through, is linked to global warming.
It remains a sad spectacle when even a tasteless leaf becomes a sumptuous meal for the hungry. Don’t think about the farming season. It is now a mirage. Better concentrate on working out a survival strategy, how to fit into a maze which is already overcrowded and busting on the seams.
Religious pastors and mullahs are shouting themselves hoarse calling for an end to the calamity but so far, there seemed little signs of an end coming. But if East African countries are sweating it out, West African states are swimming through in flash floods.
Coastal rains have been pounding Senegal, Mali and even Sierra Leone resulting in acute flooding in once tame areas. It’s more or less when compared to what is happening in the east, the game of now you see it, no you don’t.
Many are asking – is our continent running mad- weather-wise? Why has nature suddenly turned its back on us and showing off as to who has the supremacy. If those who could have provided answers- the researchers, the climatologists, the meteorologists – tell us they are equally baffled, that does not leave us with any life-line.
It’s much more like the case of the journalist who was arrested and charged for writing that a certain head of state was down right stupid. Jailing him, the judge said: “I am sending you to prison, not because of what you have written, but because you have disclosed a state secret”.
But perhaps we should be asking ourselves like disciples of old- brethren what shall we do now? How the situation could be turned around where drought or floods endanger the lives of millions in the continent.
A situation where crumbs are not even falling from the table and not even a table being set. Just gather round and eat out directly from the fireside, gulp infected water and go into a slumber. Africa is caught in a bind no doubt. Aid agencies are having difficulties dishing from a large plate thaan before.
Some radical African leaders say they are becoming stingy but we must remember that they have to have their own people in mind. The World Food Programme (WFP) came close to grounding its airlift programme due to shortage of funds until the United States for instance, wallowed in with a financial life support mechanism.
How long would nature continue to outstrip us? If it was politics, we could have easily chanted the battle cry- now is the time for all men to come to the aid of the party. In any case there is need for some hard thinking to be done to make better the lives of the millions of teeming masses.
Should we be chalking out statistics stating that many died from natural causes due to an over-bloated population? The potential threats from drought and flooding should not be underplayed.
It’s now the dynamics of finding solutions should step out from the drawing board into practicality. We have shown the reality that things have changed drastically from yesteryears and we have to go along- just as we were once cautioned by the late Guinean President Sekou Toure that “you either move with the revolution or the revolution will move you”.
We now need to put away the cap in hand and start working for ourselves. Now its drought and flash floods tormenting us- what other troubling factors are linking ready to show its venom?
In any case, would you call it a bakery if there is no scent of bread?
By Rod Mac-Johnson
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