Blog Action Day 2008

15. October is Blog Action Day 2008 and the theme is poverty.

Being in Zimbabwe makes you think a lot about poverty - and the causes. Whereas nature and natural ressources can be factors that cause poverty, in some cases the level of poverty is fuelled by humans. Most often politicians. Years of drought have played a role in promoting poverty in Zimbabwe, but the human factor is by far the greatest.

The extent to which people in power in Zimbabwe will go to further gain wealth at the expense of the population is nauseating. Corruption, nepotism and other forms of abuse of power are daily occurences in Zimbabwe. Statistics say that 85% of Zimbabweans live in poverty, but that seems to be of no concern to those in power.

Food aid is distributed according to political affiliation - meaning that if you cannot produce the desired membership card for the correct party, you will not receive food aid.

As if being poor wasn't bad enough, basic service delivery to people has also declined rapidly over the past years - and getting clean water is one of the major problems.
Recently a number of cholera related deaths in the township of Chitungwiza outside Harare marked the beginning of an epidemic that is still not under control. One of the first victims was the nephew of a work associate of mine. He was five years old.

Another acquaintance of mine brings water every week to her cousin in another township in Harare. Other people in the township started digging wells along a filthy river that flows through the township. They believe that as long as they don't get the water directly from the river, they should be fine. Hundreds of people are suffering from diarrhoea and more are dying from cholera.

On the blog This is Zimbabwe bloggers from all over Zimbabwe have written stories about poverty in the country. One is about water.

Links:

Blog Action Day 2008

This is Zimbabwe