When a new wave of COVID-19 hit in January, Stishi's father contracted the virus and passed away shortly after. Despite her efforts to find work, such as offering housecleaning services for $10, she was unsuccessful. As a result, Stishi and her children are experiencing hunger for the first time. Stishi, 30, expressed frustration that others do not understand their dire situation, as the pandemic has caused widespread unemployment and financial hardship for families like hers who were already struggling to make ends meet. Currently, more people in South Africa and other countries are experiencing severe food shortages compared to before the pandemic. According to the World Food Program, an estimated 270 million people are at risk of life-threatening food insecurity this year, up from 150 million previously. The number of people on the verge of famine has also increased to 41 million from 34 million last year. The World Food Program, in collaboration with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has warned that conflict, economic impacts of COVID-19, and the climate crisis will likely lead to higher levels of acute food insecurity in 23 hunger hot spots over the next four months, mostly in Africa but also in Central America, Afghanistan, and North Korea. The situation is especially dire in Africa, where new infections have risen significantly. In recent months, humanitarian organizations have expressed concern about the situation in Ethiopia and southern Madagascar, where the number of people facing famine is alarmingly high. Global hunger has been on the rise due to various crises such as armed conflicts and extreme poverty, as well as climate-related disasters like droughts and floods. The economic impact of the pandemic has further exacerbated the crisis, leading to long lines at food distribution centers in both wealthy and impoverished nations. As a new surge of the virus spreads through Africa, the lack of financial assistance from relatives, friends, and neighbors is exacerbating the already dire situation for the world's poor who rely on this informal safety net in the absence of government aid. Hunger is now a prominent issue highlighting the disparity between affluent countries returning to normalcy and poorer nations facing worsening crises. Amer Daoudi, senior director of operations at the World Food Program, expressed concern over the unprecedented global food security situation, with multiple significant crises occurring simultaneously worldwide. In South Africa, a traditionally food-secure nation, hunger has become widespread. In the past year, three destructive waves of the virus have resulted in the deaths of thousands of breadwinners, causing families to struggle to afford food. Extended school closures have stopped around 9 million students from receiving free lunches. A stringent government lockdown last year closed down informal food vendors in townships, making it difficult for some of the poorest residents to access affordable groceries and forcing them to shop at more expensive supermarkets. Approximately 3 million South Africans lost their jobs, leading to an unemployment rate of 32.6% — the highest since data collection began in 2008. In rural parts of the country, prolonged droughts have led to the loss of livestock and a decline in farmers' incomes. The South African government has offered some assistance by implementing $24 monthly stipends and other social grants last year. However, by the end of the year, almost 40% of South Africans were still experiencing hunger, as reported in an academic study. In Duncan Village, a large township in the Eastern Cape province, the economic support for many families has been lost. Prior to the pandemic, the area was bustling with workers heading to East London for jobs in car assembly plants, textiles, and processed food industries. Anelisa Langeni, 32, expressed that they always had an abundance of resources while sitting at the kitchen table in their two-bedroom home in Duncan Village. Her father, who worked at the Mercedes-Benz plant for nearly four decades, had saved enough to build two additional single-family homes on their property as rental units to secure financial stability for his children. However, the pandemic disrupted these plans as the tenants lost their jobs and were unable to pay rent shortly after the first lockdown. When Langeni and her sister lost their jobs at a seafood restaurant and a pizza joint, they relied on their father's $120 monthly pension. However, in July, he fell ill with a cough and fever and passed away from suspected COVID-19 on the way to the hospital. Langeni was devastated by the news, feeling like she had lost everything. Without work, she sought assistance from two elderly neighbors, one of whom provided food bought with her husband's pension. The second neighbor would provide food weekly following visits from her daughter, who often brought so many grocery bags that they filled the back of her gray Honda minivan. However, in November, a new variant of the coronavirus hit the province, resulting in the death of the first neighbor's husband and the end of his pension. A month later, the second neighbor's daughter also passed away from the virus. "I never expected things to turn out like this," expressed 73-year-old Bukelwa Tshingila, wiping tears from her cheeks. In the kitchen, a portrait of her daughter hung above an empty cupboard. Two hundred miles to the west, in the Karoo region, the impact of the pandemic has been worsened by an ongoing drought that has lasted for eight years. This has caused the once green shrubs in the area to turn a dull, gray color. Zolile Hanabe, a 70-year-old farmer with a 2,400-acre farm in the Karoo, is not only losing his income but also witnessing the effects of the drought. Hanabe has dreamt of owning a farm since he was a child, when his father had to sell their goats due to apartheid policies. In 2011, nearly two decades after apartheid ended, he used his savings from working as a school principal to lease a farm and purchase cattle and Boer goats, the same breed his father had raised. These animals grazed on the shrubs and drank from a river that flowed through the property. He stated that he once believed the farm would be his legacy to pass down to his children. However, by 2019, he was still renting the farm and faced challenges such as a dried river, cattle deaths, and shrivelled shrubs due to the intensifying drought. He had to buy feed to keep the remaining cattle alive, costing $560 a month. The pandemic worsened his situation, leading him to lay off two of his three farm hands to reduce the risk of infection. Feed vendors also reduced their workforce and increased prices, further straining his finances. Hanabe expressed doubt that he could withstand both crises simultaneously.