Perched in the arid south east of the country, the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR) is an area notorious for its precarious harvest.

Green famine
Although the rains have now come, the lush green fields belie a terrible hunger. The rains came late and the crops are not yet ready to harvest.

The region is heavily dependent on foreign aid, but according to many of the people the Bureau spoke to, aid is not getting through.

In a remote village we came across a widow who has seven children ,who told us that begging is the family’s sole means of survival.

‘The situation is desperate. If the family cannot do their business [begging] we would have nothing.  It all depends what the children get. Apart from the grace of god we are living. There is nothing we can do. We have been abandoned. It is a matter of chance if we live or die.’