Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A daily community feeding programme initiated by the taskforce on Covid-19 in Victoria Falls last week has attracted close to 4 000 vulnerable children.

A steering team comprising pastors from various churches in Victoria Falls and some individuals from the taskforce are overseeing the programme.

They are targeting more than 8 000 school pupils up to Advanced Level, a figure which the organisers say is informed by findings of their research.

From less than 1 000 children fed on the first day on Wednesday last week, the figure shot up to 3 377 on Tuesday this week and increased to 3 870 on Wednesday.

Seven feeding points have been opened at Apostolic Faith Mission Church, Salvation Army, Christian Centre, Family of God, Seventh Day Adventist, United Methodist Church and Trust in God Pre-School.

The feeding centres are in both Mkhosana and Chinotimba high density suburbs.

Kids are served either isitshwala or rice with soya mince, beans and coleslaw.

Various well-wishers in Victoria Falls donated mealie-meal and other items while part of the rice came from the 30 tonnes of rice given to the local taskforce by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare recently.

The programme comes after the realisation that the Covid-19 induced lockdown had left most families facing hunger. The closure of the tourism industry in the resort town left about 80 percent of workers jobless.

The feeding programme is a relief to some families that had resorted to one meal per day due to lack of food.

Ms Nyarai Mudimba (40) of Chinotimba who was at AFM feeding point with her three children, one aged 13, the other one 10 and another less than a year, said she was happy that her chilren are now guaranteed lunch.

“For the past months we have been having one meal which was in the evening and just porridge in the morning. We had resorted to beg from neighbours and I am happy that now we can have two proper meals a day,” she said.

Another parent Ms Florence Ncube (29) whose two children are being fed said: “We were struggling to have decent meals after my husband lost his job in the tourism sector. This is a relief because it’s been hard especially with minor children who need food regularly. I can now make porridge in the morning knowing we are assured of their lunch and then have our supper. All along we have been foregoing both breakfast and lunch to save for supper and kids were now eating left overs in the morning.”

Feeding is from Monday to Friday between 12.30PM and 2PM.

Each feeding point has two pastors and volunteers, with Pastors Stanfordias Ndlovu and Cozmore Fungulani leading the whole programme.

Pastor Fungulani said the number of beneficiaries has been rising daily.

“We have four sites in Mkhosana and three in Chinotimba where we work with volunteers who have all gone through food handling in line with health protocols. We are getting donations from well-wishers, individuals, companies and residents and we hope the donations will continue flowing until this Covid-19 is over. Our target was school pupils but we are getting even those not yet in school,” he said.

One of the organisers Ms Christie Brookstein said various stakeholders are involved in mobilising foodstuffs.

“We as Victoria Falls taskforce on Covid-19 and friends received permission to feed school children in Victoria Falls between Monday and Friday. We knew that following the closure of tourism industry many breadwinners were out of employment hence the decision to start this feeding programme.

We are working with churches, pastors and some individuals together with Shearwater Adventures,” she said.

She said the survey they conducted identified about 8 000 children in need of food aid.

Ms Brookstein said because of the rising numbers, efforts are being made to split beneficiaries into smaller groups of 50 so they visit the feeding points at different times.

She said beneficiaries collect food in their own containers and eat off site to prevent crowding.-@ncubeleon