Business_Spotlight_No3_202..

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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