A little child is hungry. Very hungry.
She cannot remember what it is like to eat her fill. Her growth is stunted. She is always tired and often sick.
There is no food in the house. Even if there were food, there is no firewood or electricity to cook it. Even if there were fuel, her emaciated mother is too weak and ill to do any cooking.
From bad to worse … to horrific
How much worse can it get in Zimbabwe? The country has stumbled from one crisis to another for many years. Hyperinflation, currency shortages, fuel shortages, power outages – all these are familiar troubles for today’s Zimbabweans.
But then came new experiences of suffering. In 2019 there was the worst drought for decades, and in 2020 coronavirus. A brutally enforced lockdown and night curfew are still in place, causing extreme hardship. When jobs ceased, wages disappeared overnight. Subsistence farmers were cut off from their fields.
“Greatly facing a terrible hunger”
Starvation now looms.
“Many of our poor church members are greatly facing a terrible hunger,” wrote a Zimbabwean pastor to Barnabas Fund last month. Even the much-feared army and police are now thin with hunger. It is estimated that two-thirds of the population will need food aid by Christmas.
Vulnerable children
Whenever starvation stalks a land, children and elderly are the first to fall. The children of Zimbabwe are already suffering malnutrition, stunting and pellagra (a disease caused by vitamin B3 deficiency). They should be back at school, but their teachers are on strike, demanding a tripling of their salaries in order to get a living wage.
Give a child the gift of health for 14p ($0.18; €0.15) a day
Join with Barnabas Fund to give health and wholeness to hungry Zimbabwean children.
A special porridge called ePap, made from maize and soya beans with added vitamins and minerals, brings health to malnourished children in a matter of weeks. The ePap powder is already cooked, so the nutrients have been protected, and all that needs to be done is add a small amount of warm water, or even cold water. The result is similar to the normal maize porridge staple that is eaten across Africa.
A child of seven or over needs a daily 50g (dry weight), costing just 14p ($0.18; €0.15). Infants aged one to six need half that ration.
Bulk buy to save money
Barnabas Fund wants to buy eight tonnes of ePap in South Africa and send it to Zimbabwe. We have negotiated a discount for the large purchase so, even when transport costs and customs duties are added, the total is still 16% less than buying ePap in Zimbabwe.
Our experienced project partners in Zimbabwe, ZANE, are ready and waiting to distribute the ePap to the weakest and hungriest children and other people who are particularly in need.
Your gift will help make this goal a reality.
Please step in now with your gift of love and hope for our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe, a country where an estimated 60% of the population regularly attended church services before lockdown.
Just £28.50 ($36; €31) will provide 10kg of ePap with its health-giving micronutrients and protein to nourish three children for two months.
