The migratory phenomenon as a consequence of human-induced disasters is not new. Throughout the history of humanity, the occurrence of adverse natural phenomena in an environment of vulnerability in communities or countries has always been a catalyst for the mobility of people from unsafe to safe areas, including resettlement areas. The chapter is the result of a study in one of the provinces south of Mozambique that was hit by a triplicity of devastating climate events and had more catastrophic impacts on households headed by women. The qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), assessed the situation of female heads of families and their children as environmental refugees along the Valley of Limpopo. Due to the devastating floods of 2000 and 2013 and the inundation of 2021, four resettlement areas in the Chokwe and Guijá districts emerged. The results indicate that school attendance is low, as children must search for “wild” fruits while their mothers struggle to adapt their agriculture techniques to dry and sandy land. For these women, some abandoned by their husbands who migrated permanently to the Republic of South Africa and others in a situation of widowhood or as single mothers, the great dilemma they face is the fact that they find in the resettlement camps an edaphic and climatic environment different from what they are used to in their area of origin. The big dilemma is whether to remain in the resettlement area, depend on help, or return to the risk area. Our study shows that for women and their children, it is better to live in risk areas than in a safe place without access to land and a very arid land far from the river.

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The Experience of Living as a Forced Migrant for Life: Voices of Mothers and Their Children in Limpopo Valley of Gaza Province

  • Inês M. Raimundo,
  • Alice Ananias Langa,
  • Orlando Eduardo Chongo

摘要

The migratory phenomenon as a consequence of human-induced disasters is not new. Throughout the history of humanity, the occurrence of adverse natural phenomena in an environment of vulnerability in communities or countries has always been a catalyst for the mobility of people from unsafe to safe areas, including resettlement areas. The chapter is the result of a study in one of the provinces south of Mozambique that was hit by a triplicity of devastating climate events and had more catastrophic impacts on households headed by women. The qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), assessed the situation of female heads of families and their children as environmental refugees along the Valley of Limpopo. Due to the devastating floods of 2000 and 2013 and the inundation of 2021, four resettlement areas in the Chokwe and Guijá districts emerged. The results indicate that school attendance is low, as children must search for “wild” fruits while their mothers struggle to adapt their agriculture techniques to dry and sandy land. For these women, some abandoned by their husbands who migrated permanently to the Republic of South Africa and others in a situation of widowhood or as single mothers, the great dilemma they face is the fact that they find in the resettlement camps an edaphic and climatic environment different from what they are used to in their area of origin. The big dilemma is whether to remain in the resettlement area, depend on help, or return to the risk area. Our study shows that for women and their children, it is better to live in risk areas than in a safe place without access to land and a very arid land far from the river.