As famine threatens... a re ipelegeng

Many will recall the 1980s famine in the Horn of Africa, which claimed hundreds of lives. The horror pictures of death of citizens of countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia did not hit home until an award winning picture of a Mail & Guardian (now Weekly Mail) photographer, Kevin Carter of a vulture hovering above a malnutritioned dying Sudanese child. The photographer, though he later committed suicide following the barrage of criticism, showed the world, through the lens, the real picture of drought and famine in war zones.

We could as well be back there, as still in the Horn of Africa and most parts of southern Africa, millions of people are facing hunger and water shortages because of the drought. This is what Botswana is faced with today, no rains and extreme heat which is threatening to leave a trail of disaster.