Tunisian villager Ounissa Mazhoud ties two empty jerry cans to a donkey and cautiously descends a stony hill towards the last local source of water. The North African country, in its fourth year of drought, is grappling with its worst water scarcity in years. “We are the living dead … forgotten by everyone,” said Mazhoud, 57, whose region was once one of Tunisia’s most fertile, known for its wheat fields and Aleppo pines. Providing water for their families, she said, means that “our backs, heads and knees hurt, because we labour from dawn to dusk”. Ounissa’s cousin, Djamila Mazhoud, 60, said her son and two daughters had all left in search of better lives.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 13, 2023 07:45 UTC