Zimbabwe Victims Support Fund 

Year End Report 2010

Funding 

During 2010 donations received totalled £79,200. This is down £33,975 on the previous year, but the 2009 figure did include £27,000 raised in a one off District Appeal.

 What has been the effect of the reduction in income ?

  •          Only a very small quantity of protein has been distributed.
  •          It has not been possible to fund the purchase of seed or fertilizer.
  •          The number of people receiving aid has had to be reduced.

 

We are extremely thankful to all our supporters who have shown their concern for the Zimbabwe people, both by their prayers and practical financial support, also to Church Treasurers and others who have progressed the endeavour.  In recent weeks the Fund has benefited greatly from a series of concerts held in Cumbria.

 During 2010 180 tons of maize meal have been purchased and distributed.

  •          The major part has gone to displaced people at  various locations.
  •          At Lupane 8 schools, with 3,600 students, continue to receive a daily meal on school days.
  •          At Siabuwa help goes to 320 elderly villagers and 100 children under five.
  •          In Bulawayo approximately 260 people receive food aid at churches, a hospice and a children’s home.

 

Bruce Caddick, who has been the Zimbabwean Treasurer since 2002, is now living in the UK and this has resulted in the need to make changes in the way funds are transferred.  The Zimbabwe Trustees now have their own bank account in the name of the Fund and also a slightly enlarged group of Trustees who meet regularly.

In the UK there are also changes.  During January the Treasurer’s work will be taken over by Christine and all donations should, in future, be sent to her  -  

Miss Christine Jones

 73 Robin Hood Crescent

 Knaphill, Woking GU21 2NB.

 

Zimbabwe – in brief

In October I made a 10 day working visit to Zimbabwe to assess the situation at first hand and to meet with our Zimbabwean Trustees and the newly-appointed Treasurer in Bulawayo.  I am happy to report that they are an energetic team, highly competent and passionate about their work for some of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable people.

But the short visit also brought home to me a truth which has somehow become obscured to many in this country – namely that Zimbabwe is still very much a country in deep crisis. The conversion of the currency to US dollars has certainly brought a measure of stability and supermarket shelves are again full of (imported) foods, but the economic fundamentals have not changed.  For the 90 per cent unemployed and the more than 90 per cent below the poverty datum line the expensive foods available do not reduce their suffering one iota.  And politically, despite the accord which brought some opposition MDC leaders into government, Robert Mugabe and his military chiefs still hold the levers of power and are able to block all moves towards freedom and any return to the rule of law.

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