A BISHOP in Madagascar has spoken of how starving people in his community have been reduced to eating locusts to try to survive.
The Bishop of Toliara, the Rt Revd Todd McGregor, said that people in rural communities were so desperate for food that they were eating locusts, even though they knew that they were toxic.
He also described how a young man collapsed from hunger during a confirmation service (News, 2 December). “During the confirmation, while I was laying hands on a young adult, he collapsed on me. I wasn’t able to move, and called my priest, evangelists, and others to assist the man by pulling him off me. They lifted him off, and began to rehydrate him. He was so weak and exhausted from the impact of the famine.”
The regions of Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe are facing severe food shortages because of drought.