Orphaned children collapsed at school having gone days without food. Hungry people foraged for wild fruits. In one community five orphans died from poisoning. Children attending SIM’s Nhasi zve Mangwana (“Today for Tomorrow”) HIV prevention classes struggled to enjoy the activities, often fainting as they tried. People receiving Home- Based Care (HBC) took their drugs without food, rendering them increasingly ill. The elderly and weak died prematurely through nothing more than lack of sustenance. By mid-2008, the nation of Zimbabwe was feeling the serious effects of widespread famine.

Repeated failed harvests, macroeconomic inflation and other factors made it impossible for the country to produce sufficient food to feed its people. Farmers’ fields, shops’ shelves, and people’s stomachs … all were empty! This plague of hunger left no one untouched, but it was the young, the old, and the sick who were most susceptible. The politics surrounding food is a sensitive subject in Zimbabwe. While desperate needs called for urgent intervention, the disturbing reality suggested food aid was not penetrating past border posts. God showed us, however, that SIM was uniquely positioned to help.

Through our long-standing partner, the United Baptist Church of Zimbabwe (UBCZ), we already had at our disposal a phenomenal structure and capacity to reach into the most impoverished districts of East Zimbabwe. Furthermore, through the well-resourced and motivated Zimbabwe HOPE for AIDS team, we had lists of people who would benefit from aid. So, with the addition of Famine Relief Officer, Darlington Chikami, who strategically coordinated and oversaw the numerous (and sometimes sensitive) project logistics, the Famine Relief for Vulnerable Groups in Zimbabwe project began.

A holistic ministry

The anticipated food distribution start date, September 2008, approached and then passed without any food allocation taking place. Although we now know God was at work in extraordinary ways, we failed to see it at the time. But the delay allowed us to build the project into a comprehensive ministry that genuinely cared for the whole person.

The main “hiccup” concerned the importation of SEJO, an immune-enhancing porridge that is packed with essential daily nutrients and minerals. Easily prepared and digested, it’s ideal for the sick, the young and old. But importing bulk consignments of the product, which is manufactured in South Africa, would require a customs rebate of duty. And in order to grant a rebate, the Ministry of Health had to approve it as a food product fit for human consumption. That meant extensive tests. And a long wait.

At times we were unsure what it would take to satisfy the authorities, but after much prayer, meetings with officials at the Ministry of Health, and changes to the product and the packaging, permission was finally granted to import SEJO. While we were waiting, God touched hearts, and funds flooded in far in excess of anything ever imagined.

Also, as time elapsed, Darlington and the team began training volunteers from local churches to be the hands and feet of the project. These volunteers knew best the needy ones in their community, and were able to reach out without arousing the suspicions of those who might use food for political gain.

In all, 171 volunteers (many as needy as the beneficiaries themselves), were mobilized in five church districts. And in February 2009 the food distribution began. Other strategies were also employed to relieve the vulnerable, such as supplying Mahewu, a local energy drink. We also provided seed and fertilizer to help long-term food sustainability, and gave each vulnerable household a Shona Bible.

During phase one of the famine relief project:

• 182 tons of SEJO were distributed to 2262 vulnerable families.
• HBC (Home-Based Care) and OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) families received regular deliveries of Mahewu.
• Children in 35 schools and 47 local churches received regular Mahewu as they met for HIV prevention clubs.
• 14 tons of SEJO were distributed, along with a brief presentation of the Gospel, to thousands of Zimbabwe refugees in South Africa.
• 247 OVC households, 263 HBC households and 179 elderly were each supplied with 10 kg of maize seed (or sorghum in drought areas) and 50 kg of fertilizer.
• Every distribution started with devotions and worship, and every volunteer was involved in weekly visitation, Bible reading and prayer for beneficiaries.
• 2000 Shona Bibles were purchased and distributed. Community leaders and beneficiaries praised the holistic care as both genuine and unique.
• 153 people gave their lives to the Lord; many churches and preaching-points were revitalized.
• Community teachers testified that school enrollment had stabilized. Chief Shindi, a local chief, reported reduced criminal activity due to a corporate community conscience sensitized by God’s Word and love.

One widow’s answer to prayer

Rita lives with her sister in a makeshift stand on the edge of Mutare. In 2008 they learned they were HIV positive. When Rita’s husband died, she remained with her six children, trying to earn a living through any casual earning opportunities that arose. She says that SIM’s famine relief has been the answer to her prayer, because she was finding it difficult to adhere to her regime of medicines without food.

In late 2009 Rita and her sister were allocated a portion of land by sympathizers, and the famine relief project assisted them with seed and fertilizer. However, the crops have since been destroyed by widespread drought.

Through agricultural aid, the project sought to impact sustainability, but achieving this is difficult in a country that is devoid of virtually anything by which it can sustain itself. The plague of hunger looks set to continue. The rains have failed and, in much of the east the maize crop is scorched and wilted—sure signs that the harvest will yield little. Once again it is the young, old, and sick who will bear the brunt of the suffering.

Now phase one of the Vulnerable Groups Famine Relief project has come to an end. Thousands of people have had their quality of life enriched for awhile. Those who have met Jesus in a personal way now possess life in abundance.

A second phase of the project will run until the harvest of 2011 (March). We’re now well acquainted with government authorities and customs officials, and the transition into phase two promises to be seamless.

On behalf of the vulnerable families, orphans and sick, the SIM Zimbabwe team and the United Baptist Church of Zimbabwe would like to thank donors worldwide for your sacrificial response to this crisis. Many more would have perished without your timely assistance and prayer. In partnership with heroic volunteers on the ground, your gifts became a tangible message of Christ’s love in thousands of households.