- Dear Family and Friends,
-
- Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube said this week that people
in Zimbabwe were going for four or five days without a meal and that he
thought as many as ten thousand people had died of malnutrition during
2003. The Archbishop's words pounded in my head as I watched a little girl
this week and knew for sure that she too would soon be dead. Standing barefoot
and in a filthy and torn dress, a wild eyed and desperate little girl of
perhaps eleven stood in the middle of four lanes of traffic. The girl's
hair was matted and had the characteristic orange colour that indicates
malnutrition. On the little girl's back, wrapped in a towel, was a baby.
It cannot have been her own baby but was perhaps her brother or sister.
The little girl just stood, counting filthy twenty dollar notes in the
middle of the road as luxury cars streamed past her. Perhaps she was trying
to work out that she would need 100 of those dirty bills to buy the baby
one litre of milk, or 125 of the notes to buy herself just one loaf of
bread. For an eleven year old girl begging on the highway, a loaf of bread
or litre of milk would represent a miracle.
-
- For days the image of the little girl has haunted me
and I cannot banish it, particularly now with the news that an evangelical
church gave Z$30 million to President Mugabe as a gift just before Christmas.
Hear the Word Ministries in Harare confirmed last week that they collected
the money from members of their congregation. Pastor Tom Deuschle, defending
the gift made by his Church, said that the scriptures dictated that "we
should honour our leaders". I am no expert on religious matters but
having been brought up as a strict Catholic I do remember that the scriptures
also say: Suffer the Little Children. Frankly I am almost at a loss for
words as to why any Church of any denomination would find it necessary
to give money to the leader of a country whose people are threatened with
starvation. I am utterly horrified to think a supposedly Christian church
could give a personal gift to a President who had 22 trips out of Zimbabwe
in 2003, accompanied by very large delegations of government officials.
-
- The Z$30 million that Hear the Word Ministries (formerly
Rhema Church) gave to President Mugabe could have bought 12 thousand loaves
of bread or 15 thousand litres of milk and saved the lives of hundreds
of little begging girls standing in the midlle of busy highways. That same
$30 million dollars could have been given to school children who are now
sitting at home because their parents cannot afford the fees or to people
dying of Aids who cannot afford retrovirals.
-
- As a Zimbabwean who has chosen to see and share the suffering
of ordinary people I am disgusted and appalled and just wish that I could
have scooped up the little begging girl and her baby and taken them home
for a decent meal and a little bit of love. I am also very confused as
to just what people's Christianity really means to them, because apparently
it starts and stops in Church.
-
- Until next week,
-
- with love, cathy.
-
- PLEASE NOTE that my new email address is cbuckle@mango.zw
but due to massive telephone charges and huge line congestion, please NO
attachments, photographs or pictures. Thank you.
-
- Copyright 2004 cathy buckle
-
- http://africantears.netfirms.com My books on the Zimbabwean
crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are now
available outside Africa from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com
; www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au
; Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
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