Help needed: The starving children of Burombo Flats in Bulawayo
Pictured above: ZDDT correspondent Lewis Jones surrounded by BFSA members and the vulnerable children
Driving past a series of bleak edifices that make up the Burombo Flats Complex, Mzilikazi, Bulawayo, it would be difficult for a passer by to comprehend the abject poverty hidden behind those grim walls.
This correspondent has on many occasions passed that way, without giving a second thought to the place. Yet all that changed recently, when two members of the Burombo Feeding Scheme Association (BFSA), visited the ZDDT office and invited the writer to view the hardships being experienced by residents.
Both callers, who reside at the infamous cluster of flats, admitted to being HIV positive, adding that this is a common occurrence amongst adults and children living there.
They further cited alarming figures for the death rate at Burombo Flats. The BFSA duo, Mr. Thembinkosi Ncube, Chairman, and Mrs. Joyce Makhalima, Treasurer, related a deeply moving account about the plight of 103 children to whom they feed lunch twice every week. The needs of these children, who are largely Aids orphans, are not confined to food alone. Clothing, blankets, school fees, medical expenses, rentals and firewood for cooking need to be included in any wish list that would be compiled on their behalf.
The supplementary feeding initiative is currently being funded entirely from resources realised by BFSA Committee members. The disadvantage of this arrangement is the fact that it renders the scheme unsustainable due to the inconsistent nature of funding. As a result, many of the feeding Association’s charges are sometimes forced to go days without a decent meal, making them vulnerable to malnutrition and related diseases.
The Burombo Flats Complex were designed in the early 1950’s as bachelor accommodation for migrant labourers, who came to work in the commercial and industrial sectors of a then booming City of Bulawayo. Following 1980 however, in a move to address the City’s acute housing shortage, a government directive was effected designating the residences as family housing units. This ruling spelt certain disaster, as families moved into the buildings before requisite modifications could be carried out.
There ensued massive overcrowding, which in turn had an overwhelming affect on facilities which were designed for much smaller numbers of people. The situation posed an obvious threat to health conditions, besides having negative implications for the well-being of social structuring at the place. High incidences of acrimonious family disputes, together with the appalling aforementioned death rate figures at the flats, bear grim witness to this.
An added challenge is the imminent onset of the rainy season. Vulnerable children at Burombo Flats are currently being fed in the open, thus leaving them at the mercy of the elements, while rendering the feeding scheme useless when the heavens open up.
These then are the thoughts which are foremost in the unfortunate children’s minds. One wonders what the future holds for them. Interventions of the dedicated group of people who are trying to assist them are sadly, grossly inadequate, due to lack of the necessary resources.
Most of the children face bleak futures, in which abject poverty will undoubtedly be an over-riding factor for them to contend with. Yet there is hope.
And you the reader may play an important role in realising that hope.
Your generosity in cash or kind would be most appreciated by the Burombo Feeding Scheme Association, though more particularly by those terribly disadvantaged children.
Donations will be gratefully received by:
The Burombo Feeding Scheme Association. Care of:The Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust (ZDDT),
130A, J. Tongogara Street. Bulawayo. Zimbabwe.
Telephone: +263 9 68910.
Email:
For more news and essential information, please visit our Website regularly at:
www.zddt.org
