In my small village in Kasungu our health has changed, and it is not as it was before because of COVID-19. This is happening because we are not eating well-balanced food like meat and chicken because we cannot afford to have them because there are expensive. These days we only eat meat once a week, which is different from the past when we were eating meat 3 times a week.
Unlike meat, we are able to eat vegetable because they are more affordable. Even fruit has become difficult to access because they have come from far away and are also expensive. We are able to access food, but in smaller quantities than before, and it is only enough for us to cook at home and eat with the children, but we do not have extra.
Our health has deteriorated because we are eating less because of COVID-19.
These photos were taken on Labour Day, a public holiday here in Malawi. Labour Day celebrations this year were not as fun as last year because of COVID-19 which has come with a lot of problems that have prevented us from celebrating like we did last year. In the past years we were having get-togethers but today we fear getting COVID-19 and we also do not have money as well. In the past, we used to travel and visit each other but this year we did not for fear of getting COVID-19.
COVID-19 has affected the food production in our family because we did not harvest enough food for the whole year because of COVID-19. Because of that, we are also eating less this year than we did in the past. I now have a garden at my house where I find extra food.
The price of food has increased because of COVID-19, with basic foods like cooking oil which used to be MWK1000 per litre now costing MWK1600. Sugar used to be MWK800 and now it’s MWK900-1000. A lot of foods have gone up.
Even though food item prices have gone up, we are trying our best to buy or grow what we can so that we are healthy.
