THE NEED

There are some 6000, mainly British born, old aged pensioners in Zimbabwe.

Their position is desperate and grows worse daily. Some are in receipt of devalued pensions from the Zimbabwe government; but as the rate of inflation is over 10,000% and rises monthly, the elderly have no way of keeping pace. Many of the care homes were supported by the agricultural community, but today only 15% of the farmers are still farming so this support has simply dried up. The care homes face a terrible financial dilemma of unlimited need, yet they have no money or resources to match it.

On top of this we are told that there is a real shortage of drugs and medical equipment in the country owing to the lack of available foreign currency. The cost of the trickle of such supplies that are available is shooting up alarmingly daily; now even cleaning materials are a real problem. Basic foodstuffs are expensive; for example, bread is virtually impossible to obtain so that feeding the elderly has become a real challenge.

We have reports that the mental state of these poor people grows desperate as they watch their country being destroyed, their pensions grow worthless and their savings melt to nothing. Several of the aged have committed suicide, others grow ill with worry. Some of those not in care homes are allegedly reduced to eating weeds; some have been found in cardboard boxes, others in stables. And, to make things worse, bodies are piling up in mortuaries as relatives, where they exist, simply cannot afford to bury their dead.

There is nothing that the Zimbabwe government or any other government or agency is doing about this suffering. So unless we act, who will?
• World’s fastest shrinking economy • World’s highest rate of inflation • According to the World Bank “The Zimbawean economic meltdown is the worst outside a war zone” • It ranks last in the Fraser Institute’s Annual Economic Freedom of the World report • The World Food Programme has named Zimbabwe as one of the Global Hunger Hotspots • It is estimated that only 10% of the winter wheat crop has been planted due to shortage of fuel and fertilizer • 70% of commercial agriculture has been destroyed • 45% of the population are malnourished • Population was 12 million in 2000 now in 2007 thought to be 8 million. Up to 4,000 leave each day • 85% unemployment • 25% of all Zimbabweans are in political or economic exile, the biggest proportional mass movement of a population in modern history • 25% of the population are living with AIDS, but with the exodus of people it might be as high as 40% • 20,000 documented murders in Matabeleland in the 1980s • Life expectancy for women is 34 and for men 37 • Zimbabwe has the highest number of orphans per capita • AIDS related deaths produce 350 orphans each day • 4 out of 5 hospitals in rural areas have no doctor
Please will you help us? Any contribution, however modest,
will make a difference.
ZANE has a first class team on the ground across Zimbabwe. ZANE has systems in place that ensure that every pound donated, is used to its maximum advantage. The money will be prudently used and will go towards the relief of hardship and acute misery.
The cost of care. . .
ZANE has no offices and it does not emply any full-time staff in the UK. There are no middlemen and there is no waste.

£50 supports a pensioner for one month
£300 supports a pensioner for six months
£600 supports a pensioner for one year
© 2008 ZANE - Zimbabwe a National Emergency
Registered Charity No: 1112949 ZANE: - Zimbabwe A National Emergency
Trustees: Tom Benyon, Jane Benyon, Sue Gibbs, Clare Hayns, James Maberly, James Pringle, Rev David Streater,

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