In some of the worst-hit parts of the country, between a half and two-thirds of households are going hungry. caritas is feeding school children and poor farming families.
We, the Catholic Bishops of IMBISA (Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa - Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Sao Tome e Principe, South Africa & Zimbabwe) gathered in Pretoria for our 9th Plenary Session, wish to address a very particular plea to the political leaders of the SADC region.
The acute humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe continued in 2009, with half of the population reliant on food aid to survive.
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...