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 dire situation, as the pandemic has left many struggling to make ends meet. The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has particularly impacted families like Stishi's who were already living paycheck to paycheck. Currently, in South Africa and various other countries, a larger number of people are experiencing extreme hardship. According to the World Food Program, an estimated 270 million individuals are anticipated to be at risk of severe food shortages this year, a significant increase from 150 million before the pandemic. The number of people facing famine has risen to 41 million from 34 million last year. The World Food Program, in collaboration with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, recently issued a warning about the rise in acute food insecurity in 23 hunger hotspots due to conflict, economic impacts of COVID-19, and the climate crisis. This alarming situation is particularly dire in Africa, where new infections have spiked. In recent months, aid organizations have expressed concerns about the dire situations in Ethiopia and southern Madagascar, where famine is widespread due to severe drought. Global hunger has been on the rise for years as poorer countries face various crises, including armed conflict and extreme poverty. Climate-related disasters like droughts and floods have also worsened, making it difficult for countries to respond effectively. The economic impacts of the pandemic have further exacerbated the crisis, with people in both rich and poor countries lining up at food pantries after losing their jobs. As a new surge of the virus sweeps through Africa, the lack of informal support networks, such as financial assistance from family, friends, and neighbors, is becoming more evident. This lack of support, coupled with the absence of government aid, is exacerbating hunger among the world's poor, creating a stark contrast between wealthy nations returning to normalcy and poorer nations falling deeper into crisis. According to Amer Daoudi, a senior director at the World Food Program, the current global food security situation is the worst he has ever seen, with numerous significant crises occurring simultaneously worldwide. In South Africa, a typically food-secure nation, hunger has become widespread. In the last year, three severe waves of the virus have resulted in the loss of many breadwinners, leading to families being unable to afford food. School closures lasting for months have meant that around 9 million students have lost access to free lunches. A government lockdown last year closed informal food vendors in townships, forcing the poorest residents to travel further for groceries and pay more at supermarkets. Approximately 3 million South Africans have become unemployed, driving the unemployment rate to 32.6% - the highest since data collection began in 2008. Droughts in rural areas have also caused livestock deaths and decreased 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 by 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 bustling community was filled with workers heading to East London for stable jobs in industries such as car assembly, textiles, and food processing. Anelisa Langeni, 32, mentioned that they always had sufficient resources and even more while sitting at the kitchen table in their two-bedroom home in Duncan Village, shared with her father and twin sister. Her father worked as a machine operator at the Mercedes-Benz plant for almost four decades, saving enough to construct two additional single-family homes on their property - rental units he hoped would offer financial security for his children. However, the pandemic disrupted these intentions as the tenants lost their jobs shortly after the initial lockdown, leading to rent payment challenges. When Langeni lost her job at a seafood restaurant and her sister was also laid off from a pizza joint, they relied on their father's $120 monthly pension. However, tragedy struck in July when he passed away from suspected COVID-19 on the way to the hospital. Langeni was devastated, saying, "I couldn't breathe when they told me. My father and everything we had, everything, gone." Without a job, she sought assistance from two elderly neighbors, one of whom shared food bought with her husband's pension. The second neighbor would bring food every week after her daughter's visit, sometimes bringing so much that it filled the back of her gray Honda minivan. However, when a new variant of the coronavirus hit the province in November, the first neighbor's husband passed away and his pension stopped. Sadly, the second neighbor's daughter also succumbed to the virus a month later. "I never thought it would turn out like this," expressed 73-year-old Bukelwa Tshingila, wiping tears from her face. In the kitchen across from her, 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 a drought that has persisted for eight years. This has caused the once green landscape to turn into a dull, gray color. Zolile Hanabe, a 70-year-old farmer with a 2,400-acre farm in the Karoo, is experiencing more than just a loss of income. His dream of owning a farm began when he was around 10 years old, after his father was forced to sell their goats by the apartheid government. Despite the challenges, Hanabe was able to fulfill his dream in 2011 by using his savings from working as a school principal to lease a farm. He bought five cattle and 10 Boer goats, the same breed his father had raised, and they grazed on the shrubs and drank from a river on the property. He expressed that he believed the farm would be his legacy and something he could pass down to his children. However, in 2019, he found himself still leasing the farm as the drought worsened, causing the river to dry up, 11 cattle to die, and the shrubs to wither. He had to purchase feed for the remaining cattle, which cost $560 per month. The pandemic further exacerbated his difficulties, leading him to lay off two of his three farm hands to reduce the risk of infection. Sellers of feed also reduced their workforce and increased prices, putting more strain on his budget. Hanabe remarked that he could possibly manage through one crisis, but facing both is overwhelming.