COVID-19 lockdowns robbed many Zimbabweans of basic necessities for survival, with food topping the list. In Chimanimani and Chipinge is was a double tragedy as the area was hit by Cyclone Idai then the negative effects of Covid-19.
In response, Philanthropist and Marketer, Tsuu Faith Machingura, and her friends in the diaspora reached out to about 400 vulnerable families in the area with food donations and other relief.
She mobilised an US$9,500 grant to assist 150 of the most disadvantaged families in the rural communities of the Chimanimani and Chipinge Pfungwe districts. The food she and her friends bought is estimated to be around US$5 500.
“The project was well-timed, especially in rural communities where resources were strained with child-headed families and households led by the elderly; physically challenged and chronically ill people (were) the most affected, ” said Susan Simango, area coordinator with the ministry of youth.
Elvis Dhliwayo who assisted with identifying those in need in the area said during the three weeks to the donation days, he had been communicating with Machingura who the brains behind the donations.
“She (Tsuu) has been very progressive and helpful. One thing I know she does not want the glory and shies away from the media despite being the brains behind this gesture she always describes it as team work,”
Chipinge and Chimanimani had faced calamity after calamity, including droughts, Cyclone Idai and Covid-19.
“All threatened lives, livelihoods, and food security,” Dhliwayo said. “The young and elderly people were sleeping without having more than a meal day. We are very grateful for these food hampers, and cash.”
Flash floods and landslides triggered in 2019 by Cyclone Idai destroyed large tracts of cornfields in Zimbabwe‘s agricultural Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, heightening food insecurity in the southern African country.
Farmers in the worst-affected villages of Chipinge and Chimanimani in Manicaland, more than 500km southeast of the capital, Harare, said the cyclone tore through the region on the eve of harvest, wiping out an already poor crop hit by an El Nino-induced drought.
Soon after Cyclone, Covid then worsened the situation and stalled developments that were being done after the nationwide lockdown.
The world is “on the brink of a hunger pandemic”, David Beasley, head of the United Nations’ World Food Programme, told the U.N. Security Council this week.
Globally, 135 million people are facing acute food shortages and the coronavirus could increase this by another 130 million by year-end, he said.
“In a worst-case scenario, we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries,” he added.