Pupils from Mabhiza School in Zimbabwe – ©BritishRedCross
With peak hunger season approaching in Southern Africa, many rural communities are once again feeling the strain.
In rural Zimbabwe alone, it’s forecast that 1.1 million will be food insecure between January and March 2018.
But one community is bucking the trend, having reaped the rewards of a Red Cross community resilience project.
The Caribbean is beginning to pick up the pieces after the recent hurricanes. David Dalgado, on the British Virgin Islands, explains what the Red Cross is doing to help.
© photo by AF Ghani/IFRC
In a makeshift camp in Bangladesh, 25-year-old Shovika Mia holds her newborn daughter.
Shovika gave birth to baby Nur Halima in the hills while fleeing her home in Myanmar.
She and her husband, Shona, are among the more than 436,000 people who have fled a sudden increase in violence in Rakhine State.
Back home, the young couple had a house and four cows that provided a stable income.
But their house was burned in the violence. And as they fled, their cows were shot.
Now, they live in an informal camp for new arrivals to Bangladesh.
Shona, 27, has found work as a day labourer for around £2.70 a day. And although Shovika feels weak herself, her main worry is for her baby’s future.
Rajuma Khatun fled Myanmar with her two children – ©IFRC/AJGhani
Life for people fleeing violence in Myanmar does not get any easier when they reach Bangladesh, as Corinne Ambler reports.
At the age of 25, Rajuma Khatun is a mother, a widow, and without a home. She is also exhausted.
The mother-of-two has barely eaten or slept since arriving in Bangladesh, having fled the violence in Myanmar.
It took her family seven days to travel from their home in Rakhine State to the relative safety of a settlement in Thangkhali, near the border.
Volunteers register people in need of help
Hurricanes Irma and Maria have brought widespread destruction to the Caribbean. Trevor Queeley, from the Anguilla Red Cross, says Maria is delaying the aid effort, but his teams are eager to get back to helping people.
Hurricane Maria is battering our shores, less than two weeks after Hurricane Irma brought devastation to Anguilla. As I write this, people are sheltering from powerful winds and tropical storm conditions.
We don’t have any reports of injuries on Anguilla as yet, but that could change. I know some people have lost their temporary shelter materials, such as tarpaulins, so we’ll need additional supplies.
But we’re lucky that we’re only experiencing the outer edges of Hurricane Maria.
© AJ Ghani/Bangladesh Red Crescent
In the pouring monsoon rain, a family trudges through the mud on a journey that could be the difference between life and death.
This is the border between Myanmar, also known as Burma, and Bangladesh.
In recent weeks, thousands of people have fled their homes in Myanmar with almost no possessions and entered a country in the grip of terrible floods.
Many more remain stranded in border areas without food, water or shelter.
Credit: British Red Cross
By Kevin Studds, British Red Cross country manager for our overseas branches
Hurricane Irma is the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. As it continues its path across the Caribbean, the extent of the devastation is starting to become clear.
So far, the islands of St Martin and Barbuda have borne the brunt of the storm. But also affected are the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands where the British Red Cross has branches.
With Hurricane Jose following close behind in Irma’s path, the concern for those caught up in the north-east Caribbean heightens.
Mother and child in India © Hanna Butler/IFRC
The worst monsoon floods in decades have claimed thousands of lives and continue to devastate communities across South Asia.
More than 41 million people across Nepal, India and Bangladesh have been affected. An area roughly the size of the UK is under water.
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