“Son, I thought you had forgotten us”
February 2nd, 2009
For four weeks we have had messages from Rushinga that our gardener J’s children and his parents are starving. We delayed our visit to this area until 70 bags of 10 kgs mealie-meal had been delivered to us – this mealie meal was donated by a young girl in the USA. She told her parents she did not want any Christmas presents but wanted to send US$350 to Zimbabwe to help the children. I wish she had been with us today to see the faces of some of the recipients!
We took with us 50 kgs mealie meal for his children and aged mum and dad. We also took 40 Helping Hands mid-season seed packs for his family and every family in the village.
We met his Mum walking down the road to Rushinga growth point, with many other men and women, hoping to get a 5 litre container of maize. Word had spread that an NGO may be delivering maize to their area.
After dropping off our precious cargo of mealie-meal and seed packs, we drove to the growth point to find J’s father. By now it was pouring with rain. There were at least 20 scotch carts parked on the side of the road, occupants all sheltering underneath them.
J found his Dad in a nearby school classroom. When he saw his son, tears streamed down his hollow cheeks. He said, “Son, I thought you had forgotten us”. He is a big man but now a shadow of his former self.
In the same classroom, people were gathered around an old lady who had passed out. She was malnourished and weak. One wonders how this poor old woman would even be able to walk home. Perhaps she will just die there? A blessed release from her suffering?
It is one thing to hear the words “people are starving”, it is quite different to actually see the tragic results of the starvation first-hand. This humanitarian crisis can be laid fairly and squarely at the feet of Robert Mugabe and the misruling Zanu PF.
To add insult to injury, Zanu PF loyalists are securing quantities of maize and going out into these rural areas and selling one bag of 50 kgs of mealie meal for one ox or cow!!! This is straight daylight robbery, something that Zanu PF is well versed in.
We were just talking about this and lo and behold, about ten kilometers down the road there was a transaction taking place. A five ton truck loaded with mealie-meal was parked next to a young man holding a large Brahman-cross steer, negotiating a deal.
Further down the road on the Mt Darwin/Harare road we passed two more small trucks loaded with rural cattle. This is apparently the order of the day now; unscrupulous ZPF’s “helping” their starving and desperate brothers and sisters.
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