Jesuit Missions UK

HIV/AIDS is already at devastating levels with over 1/3 of the adult population estimated to be infected has left nearly a million orphaned. Estimates vary as to the number of Zimbabweans killed each week due to AIDS, but some range as high as 2,000 people. Life is hard, unrewarding and at times devastatingly hopeless for many thousands of young people who are born into the tragic world of Zimbabwe today.

With HIV rampant in the region, under nourishment can weaken the immune system and accelerate the onset of full-blown Aids. Indeed, the World Food Program has explicitly linked the decrease in Zimbabwe's food production to an increase in the country's HIV/AIDS infection rate, a phenomenon which began in the late 1990s. Labour shortages, poor crop management and harvesting as well as broken supply chains are all some of the consequences of the impact that HIV/AIDS is having on the people of Zimbabwe.

A UN Food and Agriculture Organization report notes that commercial production of maize (Zimbabwe's main crop) fell from 810,000 in the 1999/2000 season down to 384,316 tons in the 2000/2001 season and Zimbabwe consumes about two million tonnes of maize a year. This drop in maize production, coupled with a massive reduction in wheat stocks, led to dangerous shortages in state reserves in late 2001 and early 2002. The bleakness of the situation is only destined to worsen and, once upon a time, the country was a net grain exporter.

Zimbabwean Government has blamed the crisis on a drought, but the World Food Programme says that agricultural disruption caused by the confiscation of white-owned farms has also contributed to the problem. However the problems lurking in many other areas have a massive impact as well: a once thriving tourist industry is in tatters, Tobacco production is devastated, mining is immobilised, Universities seem to be frequented more by riot police than lecturers, hospitals are in pitiful states, and the countries infrastructure is being eroded as fast as the people’s morale.

Unable to feed its own people, the Government of Zimbabwe has appealed to the international community for help yet has frequently banned aid groups from distributing food, claiming they were using the relief to campaign for the opposition MDC. “Starvation Policy” is an all to common expression in Zanu-PF circles.

Farmers have described the drought during the past agricultural season as the worst in 50 years. UN agencies launched a programme earlier this year to feed about 750,000 people facing starvation in the worst affected rural areas. But only one-third of the emergency food needed has been delivered and the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 7.2 million people were at risk of starvation during 2003.

According to the Famine Early Warning System Networks (FEWSNET) the problem is likely to be long lasting since the areas planted during the last season was less than 50% of the average cultivated in recent years. This is an especially dangerous factor considering that yields have also dropped. Another major impediment to an early return to agricultural productivity is a chronic shortage of seeds and fertilisers needed for farming.)

So, the situation is horrific but there is still hope. The hope lies in an unrelenting effort to work with the people so that they can rebuild what has been knocked down, can replant what was uprooted and build lives that are worth living.
The Jesuits have been in Zimbabwe since 16th April 1879 and aside from living there and sharing the woes of the people, regardless of their colour, were in a unique position to help and will accompany all of those in need through their troubles until they can be resolved. Today the total number of Jesuits either living in Zimbabwe or studying elsewhere in order to work there in the future is 202. We have come a long way from the 11 companions who trudged up with the ox wagons 123 years ago yet we realize that we are still just beginning.
Clearly, the most basic and urgent need is that of food. Food initially in the form of nutrimeal that can relieve those that are on the verge of starvation and then the seeds and fertiliser that will lift them from the chasm of death that they have been skirting for so long. So far the Jesuits have been supplying a variety of communities with seed, fertiliser and nutrimeal. Tonnes and tonnes have gone to the people and all of it has been monitored to ensure that it reaches its intended destination, and suppliers carefully selected to ensure maximum efficiency, quality and value.
This land of the empty plate attracts little attention from the powerful nations of the world, but they could soon find themselves facing a dramatic crisis. One that when the final moment to intervene eventually screams so loud it cannot be ignored, we may jump to do what we should. However, we all know that often votes are the real reason for “humanitarian intervention” and not the fact lives will be (and certainly could have been) saved.
Nobody here seems to doubt that change is coming. The only question is whether it will be peaceful or violent.

One family needs 10 Kilos of seed, 1 acre of land and some fertiliser and from that many solid, hopeful futures will blossom and flourish. It is the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of a once proud people. Too many lives have already been lost, too many futures have already been squandered and too much prevarication and dialogue has gone on. Now is not the time to wait. Sponsor us as we run for the hungry. They deserve it!

Joseph Arimoso SJ tells us (published in POPOLI August/September 2002) “We hear of millions suffering from AIDS, of millions displaced from their homes, of millions living under the poverty datum line. Why should these people be faceless? That is why I think statistics are meant for the mind, not for the heart… Hope is crucial for the African people who yearn for love, peace and justice. So many of our brothers and sisters who are suffering from AIDS do not receive the love due to them. They are left confined to their lonely sickbeds, cursed by society's attitude. These people need reassurance and hope. Moreover, too many wars in Africa have robbed peace from the land and the hearts of the already suffering people. In fact these relentless wars have robbed the people of belief in hope. Someone has to invoke hope even in the midst of wars.” Hope can begin with a bag of grain and some fertiliser. Give Hope now.