28 January 2009
Tearfund is lending its support to an online campaign seeking justice for Zimbabwe.
Save Zimbabwe Now is a South Africa-based initiative highlighting the hunger, poverty and oppression that millions of Zimbabweans are enduring.
It is urging people to fast in solidarity with the five million people in Zimbabwe who are hungry.
Organisers of the fast hope that as well as raising awareness, their campaign can increase the pressure on countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to use their influence on Zimbabwe.
They want neighbouring countries to abandon `quiet diplomacy’ and to recognise the food crisis in Zimbabwe as an emergency.
Tipping point
They’re demanding that aid agencies be allowed to distribute food, supported by monitors from SADC, the African Union and the UN.
Save Zimbabwe Now also has an online petition which will be sent to the president of SADC urging action because `Zimbabwe has now reached the tipping point’.
`Essential services including health, sanitation and education have collapsed completely. There is mass starvation in the country as most people are surviving on one meal or less a day,’ says the petition.
Tearfund’s Karyn Beattie said, `As a Christian, joining this fast is not only an act of solidarity with those suffering in Zimbabwe but is also a commitment to fast and pray for the miracle that is needed to save Zimbabwe.’
Tearfund has been working with the local church in Zimbabwe to combat poverty and social injustice for nearly 30 years.
- To go to the Save Zimbabwe Now website, click here.