My visit to the offices of a Christian non-governmental organization in Harare last week, unraveled a puzzle that had bothered me for quite some time.  I always  wondered why several shipping containers, fully packed with boxes of different sizes, were always being off- loaded into some lorries which were lined up very early each morning at the premises. Where could these bibles, prayer and hymn books be going to, I wondered?

After inquiry, I was told that these were actually food and medical donations from overseas. A look at the consignment closer to me indicated boxes labeled “Feed my starving children”. From the outside it was also revealed that they were from Minneapolis, USA and were “packed by volunteers” there. I learnt that the packages, comprising of packed rice, soya chunks and some soup powder were heading for different orphanages and underprivileged communities around Zimbabwe. Also included were some vitamin tablets and liquid medicines, specifically for the poor and HIV/AIDS infected.
 

Lost bread basket?

So many questions came to my mind. Whose starving children were being fed in Zimbabwe- the long time bread basket of Africa? How and why did we lose the bread basket status?  It is now almost ten years since we claimed our land back from former colonial masters. So, what are we producing for ourselves and our families, including orphans and the underprivileged in our various communities?
Instilling self reliance

I really felt challenged by learning that we were being rescued by well-wishers, thousands of kilometers away ,usually denigrated by our leaders day in and day out to gain political mileage. Seeing that I was disturbed, Pastor John, who is in charge of the food distribution, consoled me with some hope: “We are also teaching these beneficiary communities to be self-reliant, so that they do not depend on these handouts because the idea is to discourage a society of beggars by teaching them farming, manufacturing and marketing skills”
 

Ability to care

Carolyn Fanelli of the Catholic Relief Services in Zimbabwe was also most comforting and reassuring: “Zimbabweans have now shown an amazing ability to care for orphaned children. Almost every household is caring for one or more orphans. Our volunteers are so amazingly driven by faith. They are poor too, but many care for orphans or other vulnerable children. When they see a child-headed household or a sickly parent, they naturally want to help despite their shortcomings”
 

In December 2006 UNICEF reported that Zimbabwe had the highest percentage of children orphaned by AIDS thus leading to an orphan population of 1.6 million children. Almost 400 000 children live in households headed by children while approximately 165 000 children are HIV-positive.

No more lies

Pastor John and Carolyn and their organizations are indeed benefactors with excellent visions of survival strategies for Zimbabwe’s future since they practice what they preach. In the same vein, local politicians and businesspeople should stop telling lies in order to gain fraudulent votes and amass wealth through ruthless profiteering. Our friends from Minneapolis and elsewhere should still remain partners in our quest for reconstruction, healing, rehabilitation and prosperity.
 

Unfortunately and quite expectedly, many farm owners, exploiters and plunderers of state resources are not part of this helping game.

Below is an excerpt of an interview with Farai Maguwu, a development expert talking about the approach the country needs to adopt to move away from the donor assistance reliance.