Until the rains come: Adelia’s story

Adelia in her small home in Chissapene, southern Mozambique, where she lives with four of her five children. She says that the drought has been going on for two years now and she notices that her children are not growing properly, their growth is stunted. Over 100,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition in Mozambique over the few months until the next harvest in April 2017. “The children often cry when they are hungry,” says Adelia, “and sometimes it is very tough as a mother because I don’t have an answer” (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Adelia has registered with the Mozambique Red Cross as a beneficiary in the Chissapene community. “I don’t want aid from the Red Cross,” she says. “I just want to farm my land and grow my own food. But when the rain doesn’t come, what can I do? I have to feed myself and my children” (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Adelia receives food aid from Mozambique Red Cross in the Chissapene community. For herself and her five children she receives 25 kg of rice, 25 kg of maize, five kg of beans, two kg of sugar and one litre of cooking oil. She also receives seeds to grow maize, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cabbage (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Adelia pumps water with some of her children in her community. “We are lucky that the well is near us,” she says. “Some people have to walk a long way to get clean water” (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Adelia drinks water from the well in her community. Access to clean water is a growing problem in rural communities throughout the areas worst affected as the drought continues, leading to a rise in water-borne diseases (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Adelia and her children carry water from the well in the Chissapene community of Inhambane province in Mozambique. “We have to believe that the rains will come and we can grow our crops again,” she says. “But we also have to expect that maybe it will not happen” (Photo: Victor Lacken / IFRC).

Until the rains come: Adelia’s story

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