News stories by Mantoe Phakathi, page 7

There's nothing quite like the enthusiasm that rises from the earth when rains come at last to a drought-stricken region. While heavy rains have caused extensive flooding across Southern Africa, with fears of worse to come, in at least one corner of the region the community is gazing with joy at an overflowing dam.

The new school year opened with hope - and hunger - in Swaziland this week: an estimated 140,000 orphans and vulnerable children are among the small, eager faces in the mountain kingdom's classrooms. Poverty and the AIDS pandemic threaten to make an early mark on the next generation.

'We’re going to Cancún no better off than we were in Copenhagen,' said Thuli Makama, the director of Friends of the Earth Swaziland, as she prepared to leave for the climate negotiations in Mexico.

Thousands of public servants in Swaziland are due to lose their jobs in cutbacks as part of a government bid to gain approval from the International Monetary Fund for a loan. But some Swazis would rather see the budget slashed for the country’s autocratic royals.

November will see the World Food Programme launch its Food by Prescription programme in Swaziland, but tens of thousands in urgent need of food aid are set to go without as a donor shortfall restricts assistance.

Sibongile Mavimbela has been living with HIV for the past 12 years; she has been on antiretrovirals for the past seven. But the mother of two fears the supply of free ARVs could dry up in the near future if contributions to the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria fall short of the $20 billion needed to meet development targets.

Despite the Southern Africa region sustaining an annual growth rate of six percent, the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals will hear that the majority of Southern Africans remain among the poorest people in the world.

A changing climate will prompt changes in behaviour across Southern Africa. And when it comes to adaptation, Swazi farmer Bongani Phakathi is a frustrated man a few steps ahead of his neighbours.

Farmer Obed Dlamini, like many of his colleagues from Swaziland, finds it difficult to find quality maize seeds each planting season. Not only are the seeds expensive but they are often not available.