FALLS FAMINE APPEAL

VICTORIA FALLS IS...

Victoria Falls is a small isolated town in Zimbabwe with a population of around 35,000 in the middle of a National Park. Its tourism-dependent economy has now entirely collapsed. Regrettably, we don’t have the luxury of first world safety nets and bailouts.

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Whilst it seems by some miracle that we have been spared the worst of COVID-19 seen on other continents, the collapse of the economy has brought on an equally great threat

- starvation.

UPDATE: AUGUST 2021

We are still battling the effects of COVID-19. Victoria Falls as a community was targeted as being an essential group to vaccinate by the Government of Zimbabwe and a mass vaccination program undertaken. It is estimated that 67% of the adult population is now vaccinated. This has provided much relief and lessening of symptoms but sadly cases still increase with the Delta variation prevalent in the current third wave.

We have undertaken to continue to support the incredibly hardworking and dedicated medical teams and provides essential oxygen and medication supplies to the Treatment Centre, assisted by community donations. Residents continue to supply the medical team with a daily meal as a thank you for the massive task they undertake daily, working many hours of overtime to save lives. There have been deaths, but we have maintained the lowest death rate in the country and we now receive patients from nearby towns such as Hwange needing assistance. 

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Tourism is returning very slowly and fluctuates as new variants and waves rock the world. We continue in a small way to assist with food donations where possible through the Pastor's Association. World Vision has been on the ground since October 2020, distributing a monthly amount to families in an effort to assist with food relief and to stimulate small economies and we cannot thank them and W.F.P. enough. USAID is assisting lactating mothers with children up to the age of 18 months with food packs, again with grateful thanks from our community. The pandemic is far from over as we are still in lockdown, but we have hope, thanks to the lifeline extended by our wonderful donors and we now focus on rebuilding our community and equipping the many unemployed with new skills for job creation. 

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If you are able to help, it costs just USD60 to feed a family for a month. Thank you!

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UPDATE: OCTOBER 2020

We have once again extended our appeal, as we are feeding more children than ever - over 6500 daily - and hundreds of adults through Food for Work. Although our international border is open at Victoria Falls Airport, travellers are few and far between with the sad surge of COVID-19 cases in Europe and continuing cases in the USA. We do not expect to see any kind of viable tourism until June next year, so we are really in the trenches now.

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World Vision is on the ground and after an extensive assessment process is distributing USD12 per person a month to identified families. However, they are only able to work in three areas of town and only have funds to assist 4700 people in our population of over 35 000, due to the massive need across the country. We are working together to try to cover as many families as possible with aid in various forms. 

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Thanks to Malcolm Ainscough, Graham Springer and Jafuta Foundation, we have had a life-giving injection of USD 60 000, raised in Memorium to Mr Philip James of The Victoria Falls Hotel, that will allow us to serve meals until the end of December. We are now working to assist schools to take over the feeding of their pupils, whilst we will feed the little ones and any child not in school. 

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World Vision is here until at least April and has warned us that we will need to continue until at least then, so once again we are appealing to your amazing kindness and generosity to help us keep our town fed. Please spread the word where you can - we know so many people have donor fatigue and are facing another lockdown but we cannot give up. Thank you for being our lifeline. 

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UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2020

We started this appeal 5 months ago, not sure of what lay ahead of us as the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic closed down our entire tourism-based town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe literally overnight. All we knew was that what was to come would not be easy and that we needed to work as one giant family to care for each other to get through to the other side.

Currently, we are right in the middle of the maelstrom and we are devastated.

We have had over 90% layoffs and those still with jobs are on greatly reduced salaries.

Zimbabwe has been identified as one of 27 countries in the world that is most likely to experience famine

as a result of COVID-19 related economic issues. We rank between number 2 and number 5

on the Famine Early Warning System Network as countries in most need and for the first time,

Victoria Falls and the Hwange District have been listed as Critical.

Critical is described as one stage before outright emergency and famine and it is thought that this stage

is only just being maintained by humanitarian assistance.

It is estimated that 8.5 million people need food assistance in Zimbabwe.

ORIGINAL APPEAL: APRIL 2020

From the end of April, almost the entire workforce, who would typically support a family of 4, are without

means to support themselves and their families. The domino effect of serious hunger is potentially

catastrophic on both the human and wildlife population of our destination.