Uganda's desperate mother
Lochoro, 38, a mother of five in Uganda's Karamoja region, struggles relentlessly to provide her children with something to eat.
“I have not cooked anything today. I don't even know what the kids are going to eat today,” says Lochoro, the mother, according to World Vision staff member Rudo Kwaramba's report. She lives alone with her children because their father cannot afford to pay the culturally required bride price for taking his wife. Though he occasionally sends money, it is rare that he can afford to give them help. Women are the breadwinners in Karamoja, and she shoulders the responsibility of feeding her children.
In Uganda's Karamoja region, where inconsistent rains have caused crop loss for the third consecutive year, coping with hunger is now the number-one priority.
“Children are being pulled from school, the sick are not being treated, and parents are forced to beg just for something to feed their children. As a result of poor harvests and increasing food costs, many parents have little choice but to watch their children suffer and die starving.
Karamoja is facing a food shortage for reasons beyond the drought that took Lochoro's crops. Armed warriors from different clans in the region have been stealing cattle, depriving families of livestock, which provides meat and commodities like milk and butter. And last year, floods destroyed crops in neighbouring districts that typically supply Karamoja with food. As a result, food prices in the region have almost doubled.
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