Name: James Metsui, Fiska Chenaipe, Nancy Zuga
Age: 15, 16, 16
Sex: Male, Female, Female
School: Ezondweni Community Day Secondary School
Tell us a little about your environment and community
We have about 9000 people in our community, the majority of whom are young people. Our environment is hilly with scattered villages rather than a nucleated centre. This is because of the nature of the land itself. Most people are farmers but there is also a great deal of unemployment. The economy is reliant on farming and trading off the sale of produce.
How has your community been affected by changes in the environment or climate?
Our community suffers from a longer dry season, meaning we can grow less crops as our growing season is shorter. The community also suffers from flooding during the wet spell.
What are the knock on effects of these changes for:
- You, your family and your community
With a longer hot season people can not cultivate their gardens. Lack of food leads to malnutrition and food deficiency diseases especially in young children. People have to leave their homes when there are floods, and often people do not feel safe in themselves or their environment due to inadequate food and water security.
What are the main risks which you think climate change / local environmental change poses to your life?
Short growing season, flash floods and water supply are all serious problems. When several of these problems happen at once, the whole community suffers. Without education, the children have very little chance of improving the situation. In the hot spell few people can either grow crops or find employment elsewhere due to the extreme heat.
Describe any steps that you or your school have taken to reduce these risks or describe one way that you and your community could be better equipped to adapt to the consequences of climate change.
We have been involved in planting trees on the river banks to protect against erosion, and planting grass seeds to hold the top soil on the ground. This will lead to more water being stored in the rainy spell. Our school is also building a micro dam to catch the rain water for use when the seasons change