Zimbabwes silent hunger crisis
Godknows is 2 but looks like a frail 6-month-old baby, wrists and ankles like twigs, dark hollows under his solemn eyes. He flops in his mothers arms like an exhausted old man, a victim of Zimbabwes silent hunger crisis. His mother, Phumuzile Moyo, 21, chose his name because, she says, only God knows whether he will live or die. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times)
A young boy throws fruit to his sister while sitting in a tree in Murewa, about 50 miles northeast of Harare. Jackals, baboons and goats also compete with villagers for roots and wild fruits. The United Nations has forecast a full-scale humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and estimates that more than 5 million people, about half the population, will need food aid by the beginning of next year. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
Children wait by the roadside with wild fruit for sale in Murewa. Zimbabwe’s inflation, the highest in the world, pegged at over 230 million percent, has spiraled out of control at a time when health and education services have collapsed. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
Kudakwashe Chiveura digs for crickets to eat in Mutoko, about 80 miles northeast of Harare. Grazing land has been destroyed by poachers setting fires to scare rabbits, rodents and other small animals into traps and nets. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
Kudakwashe Chiveura prepares to catch a cricket he has dug up to eat. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
Crickets are rounded up for food. Zimbabwe’s economy is in crisis, and a political deadlock has left the nation without a functioning government since disputed elections in March. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
