CRWRC Helps Rush 10,000 Tons of Food Aid To Zimbabwe

CRWRC Newsroom | December 16, 2008

Together with seven other members of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, CRWRC is working to send 10,000 tons of emergency food supplies to families in Zimbabwe. The corn, soy, oil, and ground nuts will feed approximately 120,000 people for five months and will sustain them until the next harvest.

This urgently needed project was sparked, in part, by a recent UN prediction that 5.1 million Zimbabweans will require emergency food aid for the first three months of 2009.  As a result, the CFGB decided to release US $7 million in food aid to Zimbabwe’s most destitute citizens.  This project will be overseen by the United Church, and supported by eight CFGB members including CRWRC.

In a press release distributed on Thursday last week, Jim Cornelius, CFGB Executive Director, says, “It is important to respond as quickly as possible to the immediate needs so that people have the strength to carry on until the next harvest. It is also very important to support communities in their ongoing efforts to develop lasting solutions and feed themselves.”

The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) through CRWRC is working to meet these immediate and longer-term needs. In July 2008, the Board of Trustees of the CRC adopted a resolution that expressed “solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and in particular those Christian leaders who …live the gospel of love in the face of hatred and violence.”

The CRC, at the request of its Office of Social Justice and CRWRC, also participated in a Pan-African Day of Solidarity for Zimbabwe with the Global Call to action Against Poverty (G-CAP). G-CAP called for an independent commission to investigate human rights abuses, posting of human rights monitors, solutions through reconciliation and dialog, restoration of an independent judiciary, and accountability for security forces and law enforcement agencies.

Since then, Zimbabwe has continued in an economic free-fall. In the coming months, Zimbabwe will face one of the most significant food crises in the world due to drought, poor agricultural policies, lack of agricultural inputs, the declining economy, and unchecked health concerns such as cholera, HIV, and AIDS.

CRWRC is contributing $20,000 of its equity in the CFGB to the Zimbabwe food aid project.  When matched by the Canadian International Development Agency, this will make $100,000 available for the $7 million project.

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(select "Zimbabwe Emergency 2008" from the Disaster Category)

~CRWRC Communications