{"id":6460,"date":"2024-08-30T14:09:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T14:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diamondtvzambia.com\/staging\/7839\/?p=6460"},"modified":"2024-08-30T14:09:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T14:09:25","slug":"digging-riverbeds-in-zimbabwe-in-desperate-search-for-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diamondtvzambia.com\/staging\/7839\/digging-riverbeds-in-zimbabwe-in-desperate-search-for-water\/","title":{"rendered":"DIGGING RIVERBEDS IN ZIMBABWE IN DESPERATE SEARCH FOR WATER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the worst droughts in living memory is sweeping across southern Africa, leaving close to 70 million people without enough food and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Mudzi district in northern Zimbabwe, a community and their livestock are gathered on a bone-dry riverbed. The Vombozi normally flows throughout the year but right now, it is just beige sand as far as the eye can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Armed with shovels and buckets, the men are digging into the river floor, desperately trying to extract the last drops of water from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivers and dams have dried up in other parts of the district and as a result more and more people are descending on this specific riverbed in Kurima village, putting pressure on the water source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the riverbed are several holes, large enough to fit a single bucket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children are bathing, women are doing laundry and giving their bellowing cattle drinks of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gracious Phiri, a mother of five, stands among these women. The 43-year-old tells the BBC she now has to walk further than usual, spending three hours every day travelling to fetch water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Phiri lowers her bucket into the half-metre (19in) wide hole and draws brown-coloured water. She worries about her family getting sick. (BBC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the worst droughts in living memory is sweeping across southern Africa, leaving close to 70 million people without enough food and water. In Mudzi district in northern Zimbabwe, a community and their livestock are gathered on a bone-dry riverbed. The Vombozi normally flows throughout the year but right now, it is just beige …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t