Posted: 19th August 2019
More than five million people in Zimbabwe – about a third of the population – need food aid, with many coming close to starving, the UN says. It has launched a $331m (£270m) appeal for aid as the country battles the effects of drought, a cyclone and an economic crisis.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said many were “in crisis emergency mode… marching towards starvation”.
Once a regional bread basket, Zimbabwe has suffered years of turmoil.
Recent harvests have been badly affected by drought and the price of food has risen sharply. Low water levels have also hit the main hydro-electric plant at Kariba, triggering rolling power cuts across the country. The country is also facing a financial crisis and has reintroduced the Zimbabwe dollar a decade after it was abandoned amidst rampant inflation.
(From BBC News website)
More than one-third of the rural population, or some 3.6 million people, will be food insecure by October, and by January the figure is expected to increase to 5.5 million during the inter-harvest season, according to WFP. Moreover, most of Zimbabwe’s 60 districts will exhaust their maize stocks by October. (UN website) A loaf of bread now costs nine times more than it did a year ago.
Mission Direct has worked in Zimbabwe since 2012 building classrooms and facilities for Joshua Dhube School in Mutare, where our second team has just returned from after helping to complete another classroom block.
In 2020 we hope to be building an 8-toilet facility block for the school. Please keep our partners, pupils and families here in your prayers; for their protection and God’s provision during this incredibly challenging time.
