News keeps coming in of the hundreds of people (and counting) dying in Zimbabwe due to the cholera outbreak. There is no real way to know the total of deaths because record keeping is difficult or non-existant. Raw sewage leaks throughout the streets and runs into the river, infecting it with cholera. Close by, vendors are selling vegetables and fruits because there is no other option. Thousands of people are becoming sick but many of the hospitals are closing because there is no funding, leaving extremely ill people with nowhere to go. There are no medicines to give them anyway, nor anyone to hand them out. Nurses and doctors are on strike because they are not getting paid. The deaths due to cholera are expected to rise due to the expected rainy season in Feburary.
Meanwhile, many are living in extreme hunger. Inflation has caused food prices to sky rocket. Children are picking wild fruit to eat because their families cannot afford to shop at the markets. But even this can be dangerous. Two children died of poisonous fruit the other day.
National leaders continue their call to oust President Mugabe to no avail. The amount of corruption is staggering. Things are looking bleak for Zimbabwe and people are becoming very desperate. They keep waiting for a peaceful solution. They also wait for money. They are only allowed to take a certain amount of cash from their bank accounts: 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars -- not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
It's hard to end on such a sad note, but I'm afraid that's all I have for today. Please keep checking the news on the crisis in Zimbabwe. Societal knowledge of the situation is the first step to change.
-Karyn Wingard-Manuel
Hi, I am Dawn from Nanyang Girls’ High School, a secondary school in Singapore. As part of our Integrated Humanities project, we would like to conduct an interview with a representative from CWS. Our project is regarding corruption and poverty in Africa and we plan to conduct interviews with different people to get different viewpoints on the topic. We would greatly appreciate your take on the topic and we could send you the interview questions through email or through this comment-box. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Thank you.
Regards,
Dawn
on behalf of
Amanda He
Lee Jia Wen
Natalee Ho
Posted by: Dawn | February 14, 2009 at 07:42 AM
Hi, I am Dawn from Nanyang Girls’ High School, a secondary school in Singapore. As part of our Integrated Humanities project, we would like to conduct an interview with you. Our project is regarding corruption and poverty in Africa and we plan to conduct interviews with different people to get different viewpoints on the topic. We would greatly appreciate your take on the topic and we could send you the interview questions through email or through this comment-box. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Thank you.
Regards,
Dawn
on behalf of
Amanda He
Lee Jia Wen
Natalee Ho
Posted by: Dawn | February 14, 2009 at 07:45 AM