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Zimbabwe: ICRC supports impoverished rural populations
12-11-2008 Photo gallery
Years of economic and political strife have taken a severe toll on the people of Zimbabwe, particularly those living rural areas. The ICRC is providing the most vulnerable with food and household items, and helping improve access to water and health care facilities.
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Election-related violence in 2008 has only worsened their circumstances. Those living in the rural areas are the hardest-hit. The ICRC is helping out by supplying them with food and household items, and improving access to water and health care facilities.
Rural residents in the provinces of Mashonaland West and Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe who were affected by violence following the elections receive aid from the ICRC. Over 5,000 people in Gokwe North, Bikita and Hurungwe received food, buckets, jerrycans, kitchen sets, plastic sheeting and tarpaulins to help them meet their immediate needs.
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"I fled with my wife and six children when violence erupted in Dambamazura, where we have lived since 1981. We returned home only to find our cattle and crops – our livelihood – stolen. The roof over our house was damaged. Where do we start now?" laments Norman.
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Calm has returned to the region, encouraging victims of violence to come back home. The assistance is meant to help them piece their lives back together.
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The ICRC first assesses needs then delivers assistance to the most vulnerable, be it in their communities or in places where they have found refuge.
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The ICRC is providing support, including drugs and medical materials, such as syringes, bandages and surgical gloves to 27 healthcare facilities in Zimbabwe.
The aim of the assistance is to improve the quality of health care services and increase the population’s access to them. Eight polyclinics in densely populated suburbs of Harare are among the facilities assisted.
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Created in 1983, the SFD ensures the continuity of physical rehabilitation projects of the ICRC and supports war-disabled and other people with physical disabilities.
The SFD provides three centres in Harare and Bulawayo with prosthetics and other materials, and sponsorship for the training of orthopaedic technicians.
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In Tsholotsho, Makoni and Chivi districts the ICRC is helping improve rural communities’ access to clean water. For this purpose, it provides the authorities with spare parts and technical assistance to ensure the maintenance of over 300 boreholes.
It also helps raise the quality and quantity of water supplied to Harare and its environs by providing equipment, spare parts, technical support and training to the national water authority.
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The work of the ICRC involves enabling family members separated by armed conflicts in countries of the region to restore contact. Separated family members can contact their loved ones through Red Cross messages collected and distributed by the ICRC with the assistance of national Red Cross societies.
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