“The low-lying areas of Swaziland are seriously hit by drought. According to a FAO/WFP report, an estimated 227,000 people are at risk of facing severe food shortage for four to seven months during the 2005/2006 marketing year.

Due to several years of drought, the groundwater level of most boreholes has now fallen below the ‚Äòadequate‚Äô level of most boreholes. Streams and smaller dams had since dried up. Access to sanitation and safe water in the affected areas is scarce.”

When I was in the southern region of Swaziland the drought was already so severe that the people had left the lowlands and moved to the mountains just to find water. The Deacon in charge of the parish school we visited told me that water in the orphanage was so bitter that the children could no longer stand to drink it. They were forced to drink standing water collected in cisterns from the rare rainfall.