When a new wave of COVID-19 struck in January, Stishi's father contracted the virus and passed away shortly after. Despite her efforts to find work by offering housecleaning services for $10, she was unsuccessful. This has led to Stishi and her children going to bed hungry for the first time. Stishi, 30, expressed frustration that others do not understand their current predicament, as the pandemic has left many people without jobs. The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has severely impacted families like Stishi's who were already struggling to make ends meet. Currently, in South Africa and various other nations, a greater number of people are facing severe food shortages. According to the World Food Program, an estimated 270 million individuals are at risk of life-threatening hunger this year, compared to 150 million before the pandemic. The number of people at risk of famine has also increased, from 34 million last year to 41 million currently. The World Food Program, in collaboration with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, recently warned that conflict, economic fallout from COVID-19, and climate change will likely worsen acute food insecurity in 23 regions over the next four months, mostly in Africa but also in Central America, Afghanistan, and North Korea. Africa is particularly hard-hit, with a spike in new infections. Recently, aid organizations have expressed concern about the dire situation in Ethiopia and southern Madagascar. In Ethiopia, the number of people facing famine is the highest in the world, while in southern Madagascar, hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine due to a severe drought. Global hunger has been on the rise for years as poor countries grapple with various crises, including armed conflicts and extreme poverty. Climate-related disasters like droughts and floods have also worsened, making it difficult for countries to respond effectively. Economic shocks from the pandemic have further exacerbated the crisis, leading to long lines of people in need of food assistance in both wealthy and impoverished nations. As a new surge of the virus spreads across Africa, the informal safety net that many of the world's poor rely on, such as financial assistance from relatives, friends, and neighbors, has been severely strained. This has led to a sharp increase in hunger, highlighting the stark contrast between wealthy nations returning to normal and poorer countries facing deepening crises. According to Amer Daoudi, senior director of operations at the World Food Program, the current global food security situation is the worst he has ever seen, with numerous major crises occurring simultaneously worldwide. In South Africa, a typically food-secure nation on the continent, hunger has become widespread. In the past year, three devastating waves of the virus have resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of breadwinners, leaving families without the means to buy food. School closures lasting for months also meant that around 9 million students lost access to free lunches. A strict government lockdown last year led to the closure of informal food vendors in townships, forcing some of the poorest residents to travel further to purchase groceries at more expensive supermarkets. Approximately 3 million South Africans became unemployed, driving the unemployment rate to 32.6% — the highest since data collection began in 2008. In rural areas, prolonged droughts have led to the death of livestock and reduced farmers' incomes. Last year, the South African government provided $24 monthly stipends and other social grants as relief measures. However, by the end of the year, almost 40% of South Africans were still experiencing hunger, according to a study. In Duncan Village, a large township in the Eastern Cape province, the economic support for many families has been wiped out. Prior to the pandemic, the bustling community was filled with workers heading to nearby East London for stable jobs in industries such as car assembly, textiles, and processed food. "We were always well provided for - we had an abundance," stated Anelisa Langeni, 32, as she sat at the kitchen table in the two-bedroom home she shared with her father and twin sister in Duncan Village. Her father had worked as a machine operator at the Mercedes-Benz plant for almost 40 years, saving enough to build two additional single-family homes on their property - rental units intended to offer financial security for his children. However, the pandemic disrupted these plans as the tenants lost their jobs soon after the first lockdown, resulting in an inability to pay rent. 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, their father passed away from suspected COVID-19 in July, leaving them devastated. Langeni, unable to find work, sought assistance from two older neighbors, one of whom provided food bought with her husband's pension. The second neighbor would bring food every week after her daughter's visit, bringing enough groceries to fill the back of her gray Honda minivan. However, when a new coronavirus variant hit the province in November, the first neighbor's husband passed away and his pension stopped. A month later, the second neighbor's daughter also died from the virus. "I never thought it would turn out like this," said Bukelwa Tshingila, 73, wiping her tears. In the kitchen, a portrait of her daughter was hanging above an empty cupboard. Two hundred miles to the west, in the Karoo region, the impact of the pandemic has been worsened by a drought that has persisted for eight years, causing a once green landscape to turn a dull, gray color. Zolile Hanabe, a 70-year-old farmer on his 2,400-acre farm in the Karoo, is not only losing his income but also witnessing the effects of the drought. Hanabe has had a lifelong dream of owning a farm, dating back to when he was 10 years old and his father had to sell the family's goats due to government policies during apartheid. In 2011, nearly two decades after apartheid ended, he fulfilled his dream by leasing a farm using savings from his job as a school principal. He bought five cattle and 10 Boer goats, the same breed his father had raised, which grazed on the shrubs and drank from a river on the property. He expressed that he had initially believed the farm would be his legacy and something he could pass down to his children. However, by 2019, he found himself still leasing the farm and dealing with the effects of a severe drought, including the drying up of a river, the death of 11 cattle, and shrivelling shrubs. In order to keep the remaining cattle alive, he had to purchase feed at a cost of $560 per month. Additionally, the pandemic worsened his situation, leading him to lay off two out of three farm workers to reduce the risk of infection. Feed sellers have also reduced their workforce and increased prices, putting even more pressure on his finances. Hanabe expressed doubt that he could withstand both crises simultaneously.