By David Snyder There are signs of a fragile stability returning to Zimbabwe after decades of devastating decline. But the rural poor have yet to find themselves on solid ground. Hunger is still overwhelming. Illnesses that are easily treated are still killing people for lack of access to health care. Many people don’t have enough ...
Widespread hunger in rural Zimbabwe means that Kembo Ndlovu, head of Lupaka primary school, doesn’t just have to worry about nourishing his pupils’ minds, but also their bodies. Children who don’t get enough food at home, won’t have the energy to go to school and if they do, nagging hunger pangs will make it harder ...
While Elvis Presley was famous for his fried peanut butter sandwiches and his voracious appetite, Elvis Ncube in Zimbabwe is lucky if he gets a daily meal of porridge and beans. Elvis’ mother left for Botswana for a short period to find work in 2005, but she never returned. Life in Madabe village, southern Zimbabwe, ...
In the gentle warmth of a mid-winter African sun, Moffat Mpofu seeks shade beside his small thatched hut. Beside him his wife Sarah stretches out on a thin grass mat, their youngest daughter resting quietly across her knees. But the peaceful scene hides a distressing story. Mr Mpofu, 49, tested positive for HIV in December ...
Many people are leaving Zimbabwe for a better life elsewhere rather than go hungry and not have a job at home. But some people leave the country because of intimidation resulting from their political beliefs. Gloria* is one such person. When she lived in Zimbabwe, she supported the opposition and attended rallies. By doing so, ...
They escaped with their lives from a country in collapse. They fled often with nothing. They came to the region’s richest and most powerful nation looking for protection. However, they have been welcomed with abuse, discrimination and a blindness to their plight. Approximately 3,000 Zimbabwean men, women, children and babies are trapped in dire conditions ...
Children in Zimbabwe are fainting at school from hunger – well at least in the schools where there are teachers. The cost of travelling to their job and buying lunch is often too much for their small salaries.
Until recently, wheelbarrows in Zimbabwe were used to ferry about huge amounts of cash to buy basic food stuffs. The economy was crumbling and hyperinflation meant that even though people were suddenly millionaires, all they could afford was a loaf of bread. Then, as a cholera epidemic swept the country they were used to carry ...
The Catholic Church in Zimbabwe says that the country’s leaders are playing politics while the people suffer. They point to a failure to announce a new inclusive Cabinet as going against the will of the people for coordinated action. Zimbabwe’s Bishops say that a power sharing agreement signed in September could transform the country’s bleak ...
“The UN must also act proactively by sending observers to Zimbabwe to monitor any human rights abuses,” said Caritas Internationalis President Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga. He is urging the UN Security Council to impose an immediate arms embargo on Zimbabwe. Church leaders in the country said that without international intervention Zimbabweans face genocide. “As Pope ...