Even before Cyclone Idai hit earlier this year, Zimbabwe was already a country in crisis.
Suffering from years of drought due to El Niño, the nation has been food insecure since the early 2000s.
In fact, according to the United Nations, Zimbabwe’s food situation is moving from crisis to an emergency because of ongoing dry spells and its economic meltdown — inflation hit triple digits this past June. And since a majority of families rely on farming for income, Zimbabwe is now a nation of starving people … including Irene’s children.
Irene is often too sick to work and provide food for her many children. Even if there were food available, she could not afford to buy it.
“I stay with six children, and we have nothing to survive on as a family,” Irene said. “Even the food that we eat as a family is from well-wishers. There is nothing I can do in this harsh economic environment of Zimbabwe.”
It breaks Irene’s heart when her children tell her how hungry they are … especially the youngest of her boys. She knows that without nutritious food, her kids won’t be able to grow and develop as they should. They’ll be too sick to attend school. And the effects of malnutrition will make it more difficult for them to find work when they grow up — in a country where jobs are already scarce.
So, the cycle of poverty will continue.
According to the Global Hunger Index, Zimbabwe is the 13th hungriest country in the world.
And this past year was especially devastating for the nation. In early March, Cyclone Idai plowed through Zimbabwe and several other African countries, leaving utter destruction in its wake.
Heavy rains, flash flooding, and landslides destroyed countless fields — just weeks before crops were ready for harvest. And with maize, the leading crop industry, obliterated, farmers have no way to earn an income, let alone put food on the table for their children.
The U.N. declared Cyclone Idai as “one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa.”
If the flooding didn’t kill the crops, then the onslaught of insects from the rising waters have eaten what little food remained. And as with most crises, it is the children who are suffering most.
Now that Idai has passed and Zimbabwe is out of the news, the hunger crisis in this country is getting little attention. And as a result, families like Irene’s are starving.
But there is something you can do to help. For $40, you can provide food for a child in Zimbabwe or another nation facing overwhelming hunger.
Without immediate help, parents in these areas will be forced to watch their children starve to death. But your $40 will feed one child for an entire year!
Your gift of food will literally help save a life.