Starving villagers beg ambassador for food
By Godfrey Mtimba
Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:48
MASVINGO – Starving Bikita villagers yesterday asked for immediate food aid
from the American government saying people in the district will die if there
is no intervention soon.
Speaking at the official opening of a grinding mill donated to a group of
villagers living with HIV and AIDS, by the United States embassy at Sosera
shopping centre Thursday, villagers appealed to the US Ambassador, Charles
Ray to fund food aid programmes ahead of other projects before they starved
to death.
Project co-coordinator for Bikita People Living with HIV and Aids(BPLHA),
Stanley Chabvepi appreciated the US embassy’s assistance to the people
through self help projects but underscored the need of immediate food aid in
his district.
“We really appreciate your efforts of empowering us through these projects
but we want to inform you that we do not have the maize to grind in the mill
so we appeal to your government to help us with food before we lose lives,”
said Chabvepi.
Chabvepi, a former diplomat, said hunger and starvation continue to stalk
Bikita following a poor agricultural season last year. He said the harvest
in the district was so poor that most families could not mange a single bag
of maize in their granary.
Scores of villagers cheered Chabvepi while he narrated their hunger ordeal
to Ambassador Ray, shouting that they were hungry.
Speaking at the same function,the Bikita West MP, Heya Shoko ( MDC) echoed
the same sentiments saying hunger was biting the arid Bikita district and
villagers needed urgent help.
“People are suffering from hunger and starvation and they need urgent help
from government and our partners like the US embassy. The situation is so
dire that action is needed now and we will work hard as leaders to make sure
that you get help before its too late,” Heya said.
Ambassador Ray promised the villagers a fund of $57 million for next year
andtold them that his government would continue to assist them in self help
projects .
“The US government remains committed to helping the people of Zimbabwe
through the self help projects grant and next year we will be having another
fund amounting to 57 million dollars to help you,” he said.