News / International
Humanitarian aid on the way to Zimbabwe from a UK congregation
06 Feb 2012 at 19:08hrs | Views
The Rev Alan Clarredge and volunteers for the Rivers of Living Water charity loading up unused medicine
ONE tonne of humanitarian aid, collected by a Poole church congregation in United Kingdom, has started its marathon road journey from South Africa to Harare.
The £15,000 cargo, including medicines, water purification systems and ambulance parts, is destined for rural Zimbabwe, where many inhabitants are dependent on food aid and have no real access to medical care.
This annual mercy mission, organised by Rev Alan Clarredge, of Rossmore Gospel Church, still needs £1,000 funding to ensure the life-saving cargo gets to the communities on the ground.
The project's timetable was thrown into doubt, before Christmas, after the Air Zimbabwe flight scheduled to haul the cargo to South Africa failed to get off the ground at Gatwick airport.
The troubled airline â€" dubbed Scare Zimbabwe because of its unenviable mechanical record â€" is reported to be struggling with huge debts.
Its precarious position has not been helped, insiders say, by the fact President Robert Mugabe uses the airliners for overseas trips, often disrupting scheduled flights.
As a result the airliner set to fly the Poole shipment into Africa was impounded on the Gatwick Tarmac until a debt of 1.2million US dollars was paid.
Since then the airline has suspended all regional and international flights.
Mr Clarredge said: "We were simply told at the last minute they would not be able to take the cargo.
"I then read in the paper the next day about the plane being impounded.
"We had the cargo ready to go, so we were able to find another shipper, at Southampton, who was able to take it to Durban, South Africa, by sea."
The cargo started its 1,000km overland journey to capital Harare on Tuesday.
"We are still pretty desperate to raise another £1,000 to meet the costs of actually getting the aid out into rural Zimbabwe from Harare though," said Mr Clarredge.
He will fly to the sprawling Zimbabwean capital in late February.
Mr Clarredge established the Rivers of Water charity after experiencing, first-hand the problems faced by Zimbabwe's citizens when he worked in the country during the early 1980s.
It was during 1982, while he was working in the country as a medical technician, that he regularly treated the country's first lady, Sarah Francesca Hayfron â€" known as Sally Mugabe â€" with kidney dialysis. She died a decade later.
The £15,000 cargo, including medicines, water purification systems and ambulance parts, is destined for rural Zimbabwe, where many inhabitants are dependent on food aid and have no real access to medical care.
This annual mercy mission, organised by Rev Alan Clarredge, of Rossmore Gospel Church, still needs £1,000 funding to ensure the life-saving cargo gets to the communities on the ground.
The project's timetable was thrown into doubt, before Christmas, after the Air Zimbabwe flight scheduled to haul the cargo to South Africa failed to get off the ground at Gatwick airport.
The troubled airline â€" dubbed Scare Zimbabwe because of its unenviable mechanical record â€" is reported to be struggling with huge debts.
Its precarious position has not been helped, insiders say, by the fact President Robert Mugabe uses the airliners for overseas trips, often disrupting scheduled flights.
As a result the airliner set to fly the Poole shipment into Africa was impounded on the Gatwick Tarmac until a debt of 1.2million US dollars was paid.
Since then the airline has suspended all regional and international flights.
"I then read in the paper the next day about the plane being impounded.
"We had the cargo ready to go, so we were able to find another shipper, at Southampton, who was able to take it to Durban, South Africa, by sea."
The cargo started its 1,000km overland journey to capital Harare on Tuesday.
"We are still pretty desperate to raise another £1,000 to meet the costs of actually getting the aid out into rural Zimbabwe from Harare though," said Mr Clarredge.
He will fly to the sprawling Zimbabwean capital in late February.
Mr Clarredge established the Rivers of Water charity after experiencing, first-hand the problems faced by Zimbabwe's citizens when he worked in the country during the early 1980s.
It was during 1982, while he was working in the country as a medical technician, that he regularly treated the country's first lady, Sarah Francesca Hayfron â€" known as Sally Mugabe â€" with kidney dialysis. She died a decade later.
Source - Bournemouth Echo
