| Starvation Crisis in Zimbabwe |
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Below are excerpts from recent newsletters and emails regarding the
current starvation crisis in Zimbabwe. Please read the sections below and consider supporting the Food Fund. 9/9/2 : Hayes Newsletter Excerpt ....We would like to share with you something which is consuming our thoughts and prayers now in Zimbabwe. We are sure many of you have heard of the problems facing this country and the impending starvation in many sub-Sahara African countries. We are now seeing it first hand everyday. Many of the children who attend our Sunday School at Chinyudze are now very malnourished....some so hungry that we have to take them from the lesson and feed them. There are long queues of people daily in town, searching for bread, maize meal and rice, their main staples. Bread is now becoming a shortage because of the unplanted wheat crop this year, and flour is virtually impossible to find. Added to this problem is that some areas of the country have been drought stricken. On Friday here in Rusape (where we live), a woman collapsed in our local supermarket, having waited in line for 3 days for maize meal to take home to her rural village. Too weak to get up, she was trampled to death by fellow Zimbabweans, who out of hunger and desperation are giving way to this type of behavior. Ten other people fainted that day from hunger while awaiting food, and were taken to hospital. One woman received news that whilst she was waiting in line for food, two of her children at home had already succumbed to starvation. This tragedy is unfolding many miles from our wonderful country in North America, but you only have to see the faces of these people to know how desperate their situation really is. With this in mind, we are in the early stages of planning a 'soup kitchen' here with fellow Rusapeans. In addition to this, Jim and I are starting a food-fund to assist where we can. As it is illegal for us to import maize meal from South Africa, we will use what resources are available from our food distributors here. During the drought of 1992, we started a food-fund which we called 'Africare'. We requested that each church take up a donation of $1 per person for this fund, and then when the funds had been collected, the church could write one check and forward it to our mailing address in the USA. That year, including the help of IDES, we raised over $10,000 which went directly into the stomachs of the Zimbabwean people. If you would be interested in assisting with this much needed project again, please contact Denise here in Zimbabwe at agcmission@zol.co.zw or if you would like to talk more personally, our home telephone number is (country code) 263- (city code) 25- (home number) 3595. .... 9/9/2 : Chris Kiley EMail Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hesitated to write this because I know you are all busy. This is an urgent crisis that needs immediate attention. Would you take a few minutes to read the closing part of Denise and Jim Hayes' Newsletter below? The Hayes' minister in Zimbabwe with All God's Children, many of you supported my short term missions trip to work with them last year. We all have a unique opportunity to help with "Africare" to provide the needed resources to help feed starving families in Zimbabwe. We have all received the pleas before from various organizations pleading for our donations, in which only a fraction of the funds actually get to the organization doing the work. I have observed first hand the desperate needs of the people in Zimbabwe. I can also vouch for the honesty and the the integrity of the Hayes' work as I co-labored with them side by side. I can also tell you that 100% of every nickel you provide will buy food for the hungry without professional fund raising fees removed. Can I recommend putting a jar on the kitchen table that we can all put our days-end spare change in the jar. (bills are OK too) Over the next several weeks we can collect these funds for AGC and commit to send them a check at the end of the month. For those of you with children this is a great opportunity to teach them about helping others less fortunate and to teach about world missions. You can also look into the possibility of your church considering AGC as a mission project and to help in whatever way they would like. Please feel free to email me or call me should you have any questions in regard to AGC or this program. You can learn more about AGC at : www.agcmission.org or email the Hayes' direct at: agcmission@zol.co.zw Donations can be sent to:
All God's Children Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, it means so much. Please consider how you can help... Ideas: kids and youth groups can sell lemonade, car washes, tag sales, bake sales, and personal piggy bank giving. Any other ideas? 9/11/2 : Hayes EMail Excerpt .....I had no idea as I was writing that newsletter that an old man had collapsed at the end of the road to our home. As I was driving to pick up our daughter from school late that afternoon, I saw something colorful in the grass, and upon investigation discovered a very thin man laying on his back. As it turned out, he had collapsed the night before, and while we hadn't seen him earlier in the day, he said people had walked by him all day, paying him no notice. After receiving fluids, he was able to sit up and eat and eventually he stood up. He refused to go to hospital but was very grateful for our assistance. We gave him some money but felt discouraged as we knew it would only solve his problem for a few days.... 10/2 : Hayes Newsletter Excerpt : Food Fund ....Through the encouragement of several of our supporters, we have started a special fund to purchase food for the victims of starvation in Zimbabwe. Any donations to this fund will be appreciated. .... |