Zimbabwian churches saving lives

Christian Care (CC) is a service arm of the churches in Zimbabwe. - Food security for Zimbabweans remains particularly precarious and this has seen the demand for general relief in Zimbabwe increasing because of a volatile mixture of challenges, says Reverend Forbes Matonga, National Director of Christian Care.

Food aid

- In Masvingo Christian Care is distributing food to 3 380 house holds amounting to 16 900 beneficiaries. This programmes focuses on food aid and conservation farming. Christian Care and Lutheran Development Service (LDS) are working hand in glove in implementing this programme with the support and full participation and blessing of the countrywide network of Zimbabwe Council of Churches member churches, says Matonga. LDS is also a Norwegian Church Aid partner in Zimbabwe.

However Christian Care has other food distributions going on country wide through its regional offices, funded by several partners. Matonga says that CC all together is reaching out to more than 750.000 people.

Work shop in Gokwe. (Photo: Anne Kristine Ådland/Norwegian Church Aid)

The Cholera epidemic

Nurse Anne Kristin Ådland from Norway is one of the many members of Norwegian Church Aid's Emergency Preparedness Roster. She was recently in Zimbabwe, where she was working with both CC and LDS.

– People infected with cholera experience very harsh conditions in the hospitals and clinics. There is a lack of resources and capacity, says Ådland. – That’s why it is so important to work with preventive health measures in order to teach people how to avoid getting infected. Ådland emphases all the passionate people she met in Zimbabwe. – The health personell I met and worked with were keen on learning, in order to train other people in the local communities. 

Internally displaced

In a programme for the internally displaced Christian Care is also working hard. They want to go beyond offering humanitarian assistance and psychosocial support, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate these affected people in selected districts of Zimbabwe. CC intervened and temporarily housed over 3 000 households displaced by the violence in the aftermaths of the June 2008 presidential run off elections in Zimbabwe, and ministered to their day to day needs in various parts of the country. 

National Director of Christian Care, Forbes Matonga, is concluding by saying that all the aid we can get is life saving. But the hope and goal for the local communities is to be self sufficient and avoid becoming donor dependent.

For more information, contact:

• Bjarte Lien, communications officer, phone: + 47 958 03 734
• Merete Skjelsbæk, program co-ordinator, phone: + 47 932 50 269