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Live Twitter Chat Draws Attention to Lesotho's Worst Drought in Recent History

Categories: Sub-Saharan Africa, Lesotho, Citizen Media, Environment, Food, Humanitarian Response
 A farmer showing a drought affected field in Lesotho. Photo used with permission from Send a Cow.

A farmer showing a drought affected field in Lesotho. Photo used with permission from Send a Cow.

Send a Cow [1], a UK-based international development charity, organized a live Twitter chat [2]#askLesotho [3], on February 24, 2016, to discuss Lesotho [4]‘s worst drought in recent history [5] and the relative lack of media attention.

Lesotho, a landlocked kingdom completely surrounded by South Africa, declared a state of emergency [6] last month. According local UN officials, [7] as many as one in three Basotho may require food aid until next year.

World Food Programme's country director Mary Njoroge says [7] the drought has forced people to adopt negative coping mechanisms, which include selling assets and even theft. The country experienced a downpour recently, leading to what experts call ‘green drought’ [7]. The rain deceptively greened Lesotho's valley where fields have no crops or vegetables.

The drought is caused by the El Niño weather pattern [8], which has left more than 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America without food.

Over the hour-long Twitter chat, Send a Cow Lesotho’s country director Manthethe Monethi [9] answered questions from various individuals and organisations.

There were some challenges as Manthethe experienced an electricity shortage and was forced to change location shortly before the chat took place and a slow Internet connection in Lesotho meant responses were delayed.

The importance of vegetable growth was a key issue in the conversation. Unlike maize, which usually takes five months from planting to harvest, vegetables grow very quickly.

The same user, Dolen Cymru. a non-profit linking Wales and Lesotho, asked about makeshift dams:

Jim Ackerman challenged Send a Cow by asking:

Joey Brownbill wanted to know if Send a Cow operates like the World Food Programme:

He then wanted to know if that solution is practical:

Help Age South Africa sent the following question:

Another user questioned the severity of the crisis, asking whether it was a ‘‘once-in-a-lifetime’’ or ‘‘once in a few years’’ crisis:

@MrsMoulogo [31] @SendaCow [32] #askLesotho [33] I'd be interested to know how bad is the emergency in context-once in a lifetime, or once every few years?

— Waterloo Foundation (@Waterloo_TWF) February 24, 2016

A Twitter user based in Wales, Cathy Moulogo, wanted to know the benefits of recent downpour:

She then wanted to know what can be done to alleviate hunger: