Zimbabwe (MNN) — As people in Pakistan and India suffer from flooding, the people of Zimbabwe are dealing with the opposite: an almost year-long drought.
The El Niño phenomenon has led to below-average rainfall across southern Africa, forcing Zimbabwe among other nations in the region to declare a state of disaster earlier this year.
But even if rain came today, the drought carries long-term consequences.
“It doesn’t mean they just don’t have food now,” Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach, “but it [also means] there’s going to be a food shortage in the future.”
Vulnerable children in the “Our Kids” program in Zimbabwe. (Photo courtesy of CWO)
Families in Zimbabwe have lost their crops. They have to spend hours a day securing water, sometimes even digging holes in dry riverbeds for even a bucketful of dirty water. Children are at risk of losing the opportunity to go to school as their parents and grandparents have to focus on getting the next meal on the table.
In the midst of this, CWO serves families taking care of orphaned children.
“There are times where we’re going to need to supply these families with food that we hadn’t planned on — as well as the pastors of the churches we work with,” Yoder says, explaining that “The people will come to their pastors with their needs, and so they’re (the pastors) going to be swamped with requests for food.”
October is the hottest and driest month of the year for southern Africa. Would you consider a gift to CWO’s work in Zimbabwe ahead of time?
“If somebody’s hungry and their stomach’s growling, I don’t know that they’re going to hear you share the gospel with them,” Yoder says.
He points to Jesus. “Most of the time, he met physical needs — he met people where they were in their need — and then he shared who he was and shared the gospel with them. We mimic that in what we do. Whether it’s giving food or clothes or medical care, education, we come alongside people and try to meet them right where they are. That opens the door to share the gospel with people.”
Visit cwomissions.org/zimbabwe to make a donation to help serve the people of Zimbabwe’s physical needs.
Header photo contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024 and is courtesy of European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery via Wikimedia Commons. These Copernicus Sentinel-2 images, acquired in March 2023 (top) and 2024 (bottom), show the changes caused by the drought along the borders of Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. See the full image comparisons here.
