Out of food, Zimbabweans eating cow dung

CNA ^ | December 11, 2008

[NYer]

Photo Credit: Caritas International

Harare, Dec 10, 2008 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- Caritas Internationalis is warning that the crisis in Zimbabwe is so grave that people facing crushing food shortages are mixing cow dung with their food.

With pressure continuing to mount on President Mugabe to relinquish his hold on power, Zimbabweans are suffering the consequences of his government’s policies.

Besides the lack of food, people are also suffering a cholera epidemic and crippling hyperinflation.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight reports that "people in Zimbabwe are dropping dead on the streets from Cholera. They’ve witnessed people mixing cow dung with what’s left of their food to make it go further. This is poverty at its most dehumanizing."

Caritas plans to ramp up its aid operations across the country with hunger likely to increase after poor harvests.

A Caritas survey in October found 70 to 90 percent of households going hungry and the remainder on the brink of starvation. At least 5.1 million people are facing starvation out of a population of 13 million people. Additionally, nearly 14,000 cases of Cholera have been reported.

Knight also commented on the political crisis, saying, "Zimbabwe’s political impasse can continue no longer. An effective government that can rectify the policies that have put the country into this position must be established.

"The international community must maintain the pressure on Zimbabwe for an end to this crisis. We must also prepare ourselves for the implosion of the country and the catastrophe that will mean in terms of human suffering across the region."

Zimbabweans have faced discrimination in South Africa and other neighboring countries and Knight warned that they "must address the xenophobia directed at Zimbabwean refugees in their own countries."

"These are very challenging conditions for aid agencies to operate, but Caritas remains committed to delivering aid to the country in its hour of need," she said.

[NYer]

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[cameraeye]

You get what you vote for!

[Mojave]

Ben & Jerry’s next flavor?

[Republic of Texas]

Welcome to the Dark Ages! Coming soon to a country near you.

[Red Badger]

I’ve always heard the phrase, “Eat S#!t and DIE!”.........

[sport]

By the thim the Democrats get through with us, we will be well on the way to doing what they are doing.

[SIDENET]

DUNG.

"It's what's for dinner."

[kbennkc]

Zimbabweans are suffering the consequences of his government’s policies.

Still Whitey's fault .

[bigbob]

The Utah Phillips Diet

[ryan71]

How blessed are we all to be here, in America, yet many of us do not appreciate it.

[Vigilanteman]

When my brother and I were boys, we used to bring the cow to milk in the pig pen. Pigs are actually fairly neat creatures, contrary to popular opinion, and poop in one corner of the pen. So the corner we milked the cow in was poop free. She would usually leave a couple of pies, which the pigs promptly ate up.

Not that I'm recommending it, but pigs are smart enough to know there is evidently a lot of nutrition in cow pies.

[PGR88]

Zimbabweans call them “Jimmy Carter Cakes”

[Domandred]

If they have cow dung doesn’t that imply that they have....cows?

Am I missing something here?

[50sDad]

In America, our poor people are fat, and most have cars, VCR's and TV's.

It sure is a good thing that they kicked out those non-productive Colonialist farmers, and got the land back in the hands of it's real owners.

[/SARCASM]

[devistate one four]

While the USA burns corn in our cars because of some
bullsh@t enviro lie!

[shiva]

[warsaw44]

I had a conversation with a couple moonbat college students about Africa not too long ago. These idiots honestly believed Africa is now what America was 50 years ago.
If the continent of Africa was populated entirely with white people and the conditions were exactly the same as they are, libs would not give a flying fig about it.

[null and void]

What’s brown and sounds like a dinner bell?

[kbennkc]

If they have cow dung doesn’t that imply that they have....cows?

The Golden Goose fable just does not seem to fit does it ?