a bleak future for Zimbabweans

A recent food security and livelihoods assessment carried out by Caritas Zimbabwe with support from aid agency CAFOD has shown that there is now very little to distinguish between the most vulnerable in society and everyone else in the country.

The survey was carried out in October to identify the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable. But, such is the universality of need that for the first time the decision was taken to work across all eight dioceses, both rural and urban, when previously only four received CAFOD assistance.

Mr Cornelius Hamadziripi, Director of CAFOD’s partner, Caritas Zimbabwe described the situation in the country as: ‘A deep rapid entangled humanitarian crisis, people are faced with an intricate web of problems. It is a bleak future for Zimbabweans.’

The survey revealed that 70 to 90 per cent of households interviewed are on the brink of hunger. In every diocese there were households going for days surviving only on wild fruits, roots and in some cases eating insects. Vulnerable households, headed by the elderly, widowed, children, and those caring for people living with HIV and AIDS, described themselves as ‘barely managing’.

‘Communities for the first time have run out of coping mechanisms, they have reached breaking point. People now show signs of exhaustion, desperation and utter despair, they have lost all hope,’ said Cornelius.

‘Society is polarized, between those who have access to hard currency, such as US dollars or the South African rand to buy food, and those who do not.’

To date the Catholic Church has been better placed to reach vulnerable people in communities with life-saving food parcels. As part of the Catholic Church, Caritas Zimbabwe plans to deliver emergency food aid to some people through households, but they will also target and support institutions such as mission hospitals and the education system to keep staff at work and patients and pupils fed.

Cornelius explains: ‘Zimbabwe’s health system is in intensive care. From village to national hospitals, patients find that healthcare is not working. Hospitals are ghost towns with nurses and doctors no longer turning up for work, because their salaries do not cover transport costs, because they can’t afford to buy basic foods with their salaries.’

‘People are now relying on mission hospitals for their medical and healthcare needs. We plan to support these hospitals by providing food for patients and food hampers for medical staff, as an incentive to keep them coming into work, instead of searching for food or alternative employment.’

The school system is in a similar state of collapse, with pupils not able to learn because of the absence of teachers. Caritas Zimbabwe hopes to take the same approach with the schools, providing feeding clubs for pupils, and food hampers for teaching and non-teaching staff.

With a cholera crisis looming, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that the disease will be more difficult to contain as it spreads from urban to rural areas. Part of Caritas Zimbabwe’s work in communities involves repairing water pumps, digging wells and the promotion of hygiene through public education programmes.

‘We hope to get the programme up and running in January’, said Cornelius, ‘we know that we can’t reach everyone, but we also cannot sit quietly and let people endure this suffering.’