It’s interesting to witness how many writers are dealing with what is taking place in the country at the moment.
It comes from various perspectives but, in many instances, it’s about people who are living on the edges of society.
Not that they should be, but it’s because of poverty and job losses.
Too many people in the world today are defenceless and vulnerable and left without any recourse.
That’s what they mean when speaking of service delivery.
We’re not talking about load shedding where many of us can run to a light that runs on batteries for two hours before we return to our regular TV shows.
We’re talking about people who are wondering whether the mealie meal will last the month.
When Father Gumede loses his job as a farmhand, he realises he can’t afford to love his neighbour as he does himself. Imagine, this is a community where everyone shares and helps those in need.
It has come to a stage where you’re too scared to give anything away because you might not have enough for yourself. He is also known as a priest in his community, but his pride has taken a huge fall because he can’t provide for his family and hasn’t been able to do so for many months.
It helps to understand the troubles of those who are less fortunate than most of us when times are tough.
As human beings we can feel sorry for ourselves when we have to make do without something that many have never even had as part of their living experience.
But, out there, many are worrying about food and what they will feed their family the next day.
Hence the title. Hunger will do that to one. Many can make do without much of life’s luxuries, but when food becomes the issue, your whole world diminishes to only one goal.
And when your family and the community around you are struggling alongside you, the disappearance of dreams must be devastating.
That’s when people turn to things that would never have occurred to them in normal circumstances. For most of us, a fight for survival is never part of our lives. But if it had to come to that, what would we be prepared to do?
It’s something we should all read to be aware of what is happening out there in the real world.
* Hunger Eats a Man by Nkosinathi Sithole is published by Umuzi