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Hunger-stricken villagers saved from starvation

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A co-ordinated humanitarian effort to avert the perennial hunger caused by poor rainfall patterns in the Chitepo area near Checheche growth point has seen 270 households securing food aid from non-governmental organisations.

CHIPINGE – A co-ordinated humanitarian effort to avert the perennial hunger caused by poor rainfall patterns in the Chitepo area near Checheche growth point has seen 270 households securing food aid from non-governmental organisations. Report by Phillip Chidavaenzi

The World Food Programme is co-ordinating a relief campaign that has brought together USAID, Christian Care and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to ensure that villagers have access to food aid.

Prior to the joint intervention, villagers had to travel long distances to farms beyond Save River in search of food which they received in exchange for labour.

Mbendani Village headman James Zita told NewsDay last week that villagers were travelling as far as 5km in search of opportunities to provide their labour in exchange for food. He hailed the food assistance they were now receiving from the non-governmental organisations.

“This programme has helped us a lot. Hunger was a big problem in this area. Before that, some villagers were forced to go to Tsvovani area, which is about 5km away, to work for food,” he said.

Some of the beneficiaries of the programme described the food aid as Godsend.  The aid, which is distributed according to family size, consists of maize, peas and cooking oil.

Deliwe Chadyiwa (28) from Mbendani Village said she was grateful for the food assistance, adding it would solve many problems.

“Our children were now spending all the time at home because they could not go to school due to hunger,” she said.

Margaret Mukwindizana (37) from Murambiwa village said they used to work throughout the day in other people’s fields just to get a 5kg bag of maize. “We have to preserve some of the maize to use as seed for our fields,” she said.

An official with the GMB, Ruregerero Sigauke, said nearby places in which irrigation schemes were still operating were better off in terms of managing hunger situation. He said villagers mainly used barter trade as most people had no access to money.

“This programme has been very helpful here because many children were no longer going to school and many people would normally go to bed on empty stomachs,” he said.