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Beatrice Tonhodzayi-Ngondo Make a Difference
BY this time, it has become evident that what has happened at Tokwe-Mukosi is a disaster of terrible magnitude. It has shown us that when it comes to disaster management, we are still very far behind.
It has also shown that when standing against forces of nature and the elements, there is not much a human being can do.
Following heavy rains that fell in the country recently, thousands of people in Masvingo have lost their homes.
Most of them lost everything they possessed and just escaped with their lives and the clothes on their back when they were rescued.
To fully understand the magnitude of what has happened to these people and their livelihoods, just try imagining going back home to find that nothing is as you remember it.
In fact, your life would have collapsed around you.
There will be no home left to talk of, no money under the mattress where you normally stash it, no garden where your green vegetables would have been thriving, no warm clothes and blankets.
In fact, just imagine the chaos and bewilderment. That is what has happened to some Chivi villagers who in recent weeks were just living their lives like all of us.
A colleague who recently visited the site of this devastation told me of how difficult he found it to walk away after touring, handing out of donations and commiserating with these people.
Just a few weeks back, they had their homes intact, their crop intact plus plans and dreams like everyone of us has right now.
His exact words were; “It is so difficult to walk away and go back to your own home where everything is normal and leave these people in the middle of disaster.
“You feel inadequate no matter what you say, no matter what you give because it just is not enough,” he said.
Victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi flooding need everything.
They have lost everything. It is a big blessing that they are still alive, but as it stands, they are at zero.
They need from the basics — food, clothes, sanitary pads, water, medication, pots, utensils, toiletries, water tablets, water purifier, toilets, blankets, bags to pack what material stuff they have as well as the food stuffs and tents, you name it.
They need assistance to load and unload their stuff onto and from lorries, carts and trucks.
It is that bad.
We were just talking the other day about couples and families who a few weeks back were very clear about where fathers and mothers, and children sleep.
That is now a luxury.
While it may seem as if by even talking of such a minor issue, I am digressing, the point I am making is that these lives have been badly interrupted and affected.
After all these people who hail from deep in the Masvingo Province, my home province, are like you and me thus they need their privacy and they thrive on love and warmth from each other like all of us.
Today they find themselves lucky to have a tent or classroom to go to for some privacy.
They find themselves lucky to have a warm blanket and dry clothes.
Just switching on the television images of them lining up to receive food donations is heart-breaking.
I am not writing today to blame anyone because that is pointless.
We are where we are now and we need to move forward so that the families at that place can move forward.
We have heard the appeals from Government for assistance and we have seen the Acting President going down there to offer support to the affected families, telling them that a better day will come.
Many people have responded.
Corporates, embassies, the non-governmental sector (NGOs), musicians and churches are among those who have gone out there and extended a hand.
Zimpapers as a company has also thrown its hands in and is mobilising support for the affected people and delivering whatever is collected to the site.
Some individuals have through their Facebook or WhatsApp profiles also started appealing for help and whatever they are collecting is making its way to the Tokwe-Mukosi families who need it.
It is that spirit exhibited by Zimbabweans to help each other in a time of trouble that we must always uphold.
That spirit can get us out of any fix that we find ourselves in.
I am taken back to that story of Natasha Sanyanga who needed US$100 000 to undergo an important medical procedure and the funds were mobilised.
While the Government, donor and humanitarian community will play its part and mobilise some support for the families in the Tokwe-Mukosi basin, it is as Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo has said, it is always good when locals begin to look out for each other.
Every company that has not done something yet has to do something for that community.
Every businessperson that has not yet done something needs to.
I have seen women mobilising each other to donate things they are no longer using in their homes to those that need them most.
That spirit of ubuntu that is emerging will take us far if we continue with it.
For a long time people have had that mentality whereby donations and goodwill gestures are left to someone else.
When each one of us realises that we can do something, as has been the case with those collecting a dollar in their networks; taking a certain percentage of their charges for mobile phone users, and those in Masvingo who are just mobilising themselves to rebuild and restore order and sanity to that basin, then we are working towards finding that humanity that binds us together; makes us people and makes a difference.
Let’s rally behind the Tokwe-Mukosi families!
Online Reporter