Activity Preparation

• Read Gugu's House by Catherine Stock (Clarion Books, 2001). This is a delightful tale of a young child that visits her grandmother, named Gugu, in rural Zimbabwe. The rain has not come for a long time, and the whole village is concerned. But the girl and her grandmother spend their time together decorating and painting Gugu's mud house and compound. The rains come, and the girl is sad as it washes away the natural paints, but she learns to appreciate the importance of rain.
• Copies of handout for distribution.
• Natural colored paints, paper and painting supplies.
• A map of southern Africa, pictures of African animals and examples of African motifs and art. An excellent site created by the National University of Singapore on The Visual Arts of Zimbabwe provides dozens of links to the rich traditions and examples of visual images from both ancient and modern Zimbabwe: click here .

Introductory Discussion

• Lead a discussion about the importance of rain, with the students sharing what rain is good for. Discuss the unpredictable nature of weather in their own community and extreme conditions they have either experienced or heard of.
• Have children share experiences they have had growing their own food, helping in a garden or visiting a farm.

Classroom Activity

• On the map, find the countries affected by the current drought (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe), and talk briefly about regional climate patterns.
• Read Gugu's House to the students.
• Have students draw and decorate homes inspired by the illustrations in the book.
• Have older students read the handout, or summarize for younger students. Discuss issues that relate to drought and famine (these are highlighted by the table of indicators). For weekly precipitation maps of southern Africa, click here to visit the Web site of the US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service.

Activity Conclusion

• In age-appropriate ways, discuss the hardships of drought and the current crisis in southern Africa.
• Conclude by helping students come up with ideas for raising money to address the food crisis. For fund raising ideas, click here.
• Have students brainstorm ideas on how they can make a difference and help the situation in southern Africa.

Further Activities and Resources

• See the Elementary Curriculum available on this site for elementary-level resources on famine and hunger.
• For a fun reprieve, have students play the Map Game. Developed by the Utah Education Network with M & M candies, the game will give students an idea of how widespread hunger is and the countries that it affects the most. Click here to access the game .
• Use the folk tale The Mean Hyena: A Folk tale from Malawi by Judy Sierra (Lodestar Books, 1997) to explore traditional African tales and learn about the country of Malawi.
• Read the book Along the Luangwa: A Story of an African Floodplain and use it to study the natural beauty and wildlife of southern Africa. See Resources section for brief description.
• Visit the NOVA companion site developed for their 1998 PBS show "Crocodiles!" for fun ideas for kids and suggested classroom activities. Click here .
• Visit the site of Zambia's National Tourist board for general information on history, wildlife, parks, etc. Click here .
• Listen to and learn about southern Africa's rich musical traditions, including Marimba music. This music became popular in the United States in the 1970's, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where Dumisani Maraire (a Zimbabwean better known as Dumi) shared his energy, skill and passion for nearly four decades. For extensive online listings of southern African music, visit Dandemutande , Daniel Gritzer's Southern African & Zimbabwean Music Connection , or Columbia University's African Resource pages .