Dominicans
on the Ground in Africa
Food
Crisis In Zimbabwe Raised by Dominicans at Annual Meeting
 ADRIAN,
MI - The urgent food crisis in Zimbabwe came to the forefront during
the DLC Annual Meeting, when, during an open space session, members
raised the issue and reported that the situation in Zimbabwe is at
a critical moment.
Sr. Dominca, the provincial of the Domincian Sisters
in Zambia who works in Zimbabwe said recently in a report from
Dominican Sisters International, “The
food situation in Zimbabwe is very critical -- so much so that
we have to try and help people even in our poverty. All
the news we have received recently from Zimbabwe shows that many
children are dying."
Since 2000, Zimbabwe's economy has rapidly declined; one of the
region's strongest economies has shrunk by about two-thirds, with
official inflation estimated at more than 11 million percent, unemployment
at more than 80 percent, and shortages of food, fuel, and electricity
commonplace.
The United Nations predicts that by early next year 5.1 million
people, out of a population of about 12 million, will require food
assistance. More than three million citizens are thought to have
left Zimbabwe in recent years in search of employment.
“Millions of Zimbabweans have already run out of food or are
surviving on just one meal a day – and the crisis is going
to get much worse in the coming months,” said Mustapha
Darboe, United Nations World Food Programme Regional Director for
East, Central and Southern Africa. “WFP
can prevent this crisis from becoming a disaster but we need more
donations – and we need them now.”
Dominicans on the ground in Zimbabwe attest to the dire situation
and report hunger is rampant. Sr. Patricia Walsh OP, Dominican Missionary
Sisters, Harare, Zimbabwe reports, “For the past 35
years I have worked as a nurse here in Zimbabwe, many of those years
spent in rural areas where we experienced severe droughts but until
now I have not experienced the degree of hunger/starvation that I
am seeing today. Please get the food out from behind the locked doors
now. Every day spent asking questions as to whether I am hungry or
not is a day when we will loose hundreds of vulnerable people because
of hunger.” (read
her full article here)
“A way to help is to send money to the Missionary Dominican
Sisters whose generalate is in England and these sisters have
the capacity to forward money to the most needy in Zimbabwe,” reported
former DSI coordinator Margaret Ormond OP.
DSI has arranged for an emergency donation of $5,000 to assist the Dominican
Sisters in Zimbabwe and Zambia for food and basic necessities.
Donation can be sent to the DSI Solidarity Fund through:
DSI Solidarity Fund
c/o
Kathleen McGinn, OP
555 Albany Avenue
Amityville, NY 11701
please designate your donation for the Zimbabwe
Food Crisis.
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