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| Rt. Rev. George Cosmas Lungu, President ZCCB |
By Pamela Adinda
Chairman of Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) Rt. Rev. George Cosmas Lungu has said that the hunger situation in Zambia is dire and the worst is yet to come as the country faces critical months of December, January, February before people can start harvesting something from their farms.
In an interview with AMECEA Online News, Bishop Lungu who is the local ordinary of Chipata Diocese said that the most affected parts of the country are in the southern region which covers the dioceses of Livingston and Monze as well as part of Mongu.
“We together with some Ambassadors, NGOs as well as the civil society have tried to persuade the government to come in with a simple statement declaring an emergency by letting the world know that we are in need, unfortunately this has not happened. It is just a question of humility, if you are in need, you are in need and you have to ask for help. It may be humiliating and embarrassing but you have to ask anyway because that is your situation,” Bishop Lungu said.
He explained that the hunger situation was imminent and everyone was aware following bad harvest in the country, which was occasioned by severe drought in 2018/2019 farming season and the southern part of the country was badly affected.
“Fact are facts, people are looking for fruits in the bush because they have no food and when the government brings in a few bags of maize flour and people are fighting for it, you cannot hide that this is our situation, our reality. It would have been very prudent of the government to come out openly and say, I think we miscalculated, the situation is much serious than we thought and probably ask for help because this is very important,” Bishop Lungu said adding that they only hope and pray that their people will be helped soon.
Although Food and Agriculture Organisation is reported to have said that calls to declare the hunger situation in some parts of the country a national disaster are unfounded, ZCCB during their recent call to the government to pay attention to hunger revealed that the number of households affected by hunger in the country has risen from 1.9 million which was reported in March this year to 2.3 million.
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| Sr. Rosalia Zakayombo, from Monze Diocese |
Sr. Rosalia Zakayombo, General Superior of Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit in the Diocese of Monze, told AMECEA Online news that the situation in Monze is getting worse by the day, people are hungry and there is no food.
“Our Diocese was badly hit by drought, therefore at the moment there is a lot of hunger. People are coming to us desperately looking for food but then we also don't have anything to share, we are also struggling just as well. This year I would say that our biggest social problem is hunger, our people are hungry and food is nowhere,” Explained Sr. Rosalia whose congregation’s mission in the Diocese is to answer to the essential needs of people such as education, health pastoral and social work.