Business_Spotlight_No3_202..

(Joyce) #1
Foto: Emmelyn van Zanten

Business Spotlight 3/

THE BIG PICTURE
SOUTH AFRICA

Hallelujah!
MEDIUM

First came a trickle, then a stream, then a
deluge. Water began to flow in the Buf-
falo River in the Karoo region of south-
western South Africa on 24 January 2020.
Minutes before this picture was taken,
farmworkers Ryno Baadjies, Pierrie Ba-
adjies, Hans Kietas and Ideon de Peers
had been standing next to a dry riverbed.
The Karoo is a semi-arid region in
South Africa. It has been suffering its
worst drought in a century, putting pres-
sure on a local economy dependent on
agriculture. Karoo farmers have had to
sell most of their livestock. Some farmers
have been forced to sell their farms and
lay off their farmworkers. With the area’s
extremely high unemployment rate, the
loss of a job can devastate a family.
But then — hallelujah! — it rained, tem-
porarily filling up reservoirs and bringing
rivers back to life. It will take much more
rain to end the drought, but in an area
with much hardship, a river overflowing
with water is indeed something to smile
about.

buffalo [(bVfElEU]
, Büffel
deluge [(delju:dZ]
, Flut
devastate sb. [(devEsteIt]
, jmdn. vernichten;
hier: hart treffen
drought [draUt]
, Dürre
hallelujah [)hÄlI(lu:jE]
, [wg. Aussprache]
hardship [(hA:dSIp]
, Not, Mühsal

lay sb. off [)leI (Qf]
, jmdn. entlassen
livestock [(laIvstQk]
, Vieh
reservoir [(rezEvwA:]
, Stausee
semi-arid [)semi (ÄrId]
, halbtrocken
stream [stri:m]
, (Wasser-)Schwall
trickle [(trIk&l]
, Rinnsal

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