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Concern over Zimbabwe

(January 2003)

 

 

The Mission Council of the United Reformed Church has expressed its concern over the situation in Zimbabwe.  At its meeting in January the Mission Council - which speaks for the Church in between General Assemblies - passed the following motion, which has been communicated to the Prime Minister and Zimbabwean High Commission:

The Mission Council of the United Reformed Church, having received news of the continuing deterioration of the situation in Zimbabwe

 

* Expresses its support for our partners and people in Zimbabwe in these difficult times

 

* Encourages Christian Aid to be more responsive to the situation in Zimbabwe and requests that a delegation meet with the Director of Christian Aid to explore this further

 

Comment by the Church and Society Committee
 

Like the rest of the world, we maintain a prayerful watch on developments in the Middle East. However, we are also deeply troubled about events in other parts of the world, not least those with which we have an especial bond through our Commitment for Life programme. Zimbabwe is one, and a letter received two weeks ago from the Director of Silveira House, Fr Dieter Scholz, brings home vividly how the rapidly deteriorating situation in that country is affecting our partners there.

After mentioning that food bought from South Africa can only be used for famine relief and not to maintain Zimbabwe’s institutions, Fr Scholz states bleakly that, with all its staff and students in attendance, Silveira House has food only for ten days and fuel for less than a week. ‘For the first time in the 35-year history of Silveira House I had to ask the staff who have no urgent teaching commitments to stay at home because we can neither feed nor transport them’, Fr Scholz writes. The mood at Silveira House can only be imagined, for after his colleagues were given this news Fr Scholz records that ‘there was total silence. No questions. No comments. That, too, has never happened before.’

But, Fr Scholz continues, ‘we will not give up, and I will do everything I can to keep the Centre going. These days my heart resonates with the prayer of Habakkuk: ‘Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation’.

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(The illustration at the top of this page shows a young man being instructed in metalwork at Silveira House, near Harare)