The Mercy Corps Blog

Blog Post Posted June 18, 2009, 8:30 am by Nancy Lindborg

It takes a village. And often a grandmother.

Crossposted from:

Welcome to Mercy Corps' One Table blog, where people will post on issues related to hunger, with a special focus on the invaluable contribution women make to feeding the world's families. Mothers around the world spend lots of time and effort growing food, earning the money to buy food, and making meals for their families. But in Zimbabwe, where many mothers have died or left the country looking for work, it's grandmothers who step up to play that critical role.

About a week ago, I was on a dusty field in Rusike, a village in Zimbabwe, surrounded by sacks of corn and beans. I was meeting with a group of community members — farmers, teachers, parents — who make up the village's Child Protection Committee. The committee has a huge task: Zimbabwe has more than a million children left vulnerable or orphaned out of a total population of 12 million. That's a staggering number of kids who need food and care and love. Once considered the breadbasket of southern Africa, these days five million Zimbabweans rely on food aid to survive.

Mercy Corps President Nancy Lindborg visits with members of the Child Protection Committee in Rusike, Zimbabwe. Photo: Ross Hornsey/Mercy Corps

Now, because so many adults have died of HIV/AIDS or have left the country looking for work, countless Zimbabwean kids are living with their elderly grandmothers who often have several other kids in their care and no way to support them. Many of these kids have experienced loss, abuse and malnutrition during their short lives, and they have enormous needs. I travel a lot in the developing world, and what amazes me is that just about everywhere, even in the toughest places, I can always get kids to smile or laugh. In Rusike, it was a harder task. The kids were wary and reserved — the results of some tough years — until after we had sat for some time together, and then finally the smiles broke through.

With some support from Mercy Corps, this volunteer Rusike committee organized to identify the neediest kids in the area and prod their neighbors to contribute food for them. While I was with them on the field, they distributed literally tons of corn, beans and peas from the recent harvest, providing nourishment to struggling kids and their caretakers throughout the community. The Child Protection Committee in Rusike needed some support to get off the ground, but before I left they assured me they will continue their generous work whatever the resources. The committee members were filled with energy, wearing t-shirts that proclaimed "Child at Heart" in their native Shona language. They reflected the overall optimism I encountered through the country, that the future finally look bright again.

Fast forward a week or so. I am back in Washington, DC, flanked by the country's leading journalists, academics and policymakers, listening to Zimbabwe's newish prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, outline his vision for the future of his country.

What struck me about Tsvangirai was his optimism. He's leading a nascent unity government after years of economic instability, in which astronomical inflation made life nearly impossible. However, since February, Zimbabwe has "dollarized," bringing inflation under control — bread prices would literally triple in the course of one day — and creating conditions for a durable economic recovery.

Speaking of his visit to the United States as a young labor leader in the 1990s, Tsvangirai said "What I saw in the American people is also what I see, in the people of Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans, like Americans, are a hard working people; people who persevere in hard times and people with — I'm told the American word is 'gumption.'"

My colleagues and I at Mercy Corps are thrilled to partner with people like the members of the Child Protection Committee in Rusike as Zimbabwe works to get back on track. We've investing in getting AIDS orphans the nourishment and education they need, getting small farmers — especially women — up and running, and helping health officials fight the cholera epidemic that has continued to threaten the country's most vulnerable people for the last months.

It doesn't take a huge investment to make a real difference — just $15 provides a family of six access to a communal garden space with tools, seeds, fencing and water, and $500 restores clean drinking water to a community of 400 people.

That's all for now — I look forward to posting regularly to this blog!