Vic: Cycle of poverty continues in Zimbabwe

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2001
Vic: Cycle of poverty continues in Zimbabwe

MELBOURNE, Aug 29 AAP - When Sekai Shand was growing up in Zimbabwe, life was tough.

There was little food, little education and poor health facilities.

But 30 years later, the situation is far worse, with environmental landcare issues
compounded by the economic impacts of the hardline regime of President Robert Mugabe.

Dr Shand, now a senior executive with World Vision, puts her escape from the clutches
of poverty down to the generosity of a group of ladies from a village in Sussex, England.

Her family was moved from fertile land in the 1950s to a place where she had to travel
8km to school by foot and health services were up to 60km away.

After her father died, her mother could not afford to keep her in school but she was
offered a placement at a Methodist boarding school using sponsorship from the English
women.

"I just remember the principal coming to me and saying a group of women in England
had done some fundraising and they're going to be paying for your education. And I needed
to write to them each term to say thank you very much for the school fees," she said.

"I did for that five years and I have never met these women but I think their generosity
has made me realise that helping one child does make a difference."

Dr Shand, speaking after the launch of World Vision's campaign seeking 5,000 Australian
sponsors for 5,000 of the world's poorest children during September, said she had gone
on to complete a PhD in political science at Melbourne University and has lived in Melbourne
"off and on" for 15 years.

But Dr Shand said time had not been kind to her home village in Zimbabwe, where the
problems were now even more severe and children were some of the biggest victims.

"Going back in the last few months there are more children, the land is more unproductive,
and we've got HIV/AIDS. The same classroom I went to has not changed for the last 30 years,"

she said.

"HIV/AIDS is one of the major catastrophes affecting children in Zimbabwe at the moment.

We have about 600,000 orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS.

"Now these children can only rely on extended family, and the extended family is going
through some serious pressures.

"Coupled with that is the political situation which has not been very helpful for children.

"These children basically need adults to care for them and we can only do this through
sponsorship."

"I am painting a picture that does not look good but there is hope. And I'm here to
tell you that I have been there and with the support of some generous people, I have managed
to be here right at this moment," she said.

AAP ce/gfr/vr

KEYWORD: ABUSE SHAND

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