The Crisis

Famine

Southern Africa has been suffering through severe drought. Crops have failed, farms have closed and many face starvation. The UN World Food Program estimates over 6 million of Zimbabwe's the 11 million total population need food provided for survival.

Tragedy of HIV/AIDS

Zimbabwe and all of sub-Saharan Africa is facing an unimaginable health crisis. The AIDS pandemic sweeping across Africa is comparable to the Black Plague that devastated Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. During 2003 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.3 million people died from HIV/AIDS -- the rest of the world combined totaled only 700,000 deaths. Every 25 seconds another person is infected with HIV in Africa.

Zimbabwe and all of sub-Saharan Africa is facing an unimaginable health crisis. The AIDS pandemic sweeping across Africa is comparable to the Black Plague that devastated Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. During 2002 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.3 million people died from HIV/AIDS -- the rest of the world combined totaled only 700,000 deaths. Every 25 seconds another person is infected with HIV in Africa. The sad difference between the Black Plague and this crisis, is AIDS sweeps through communities killing sexually active adults and leaves many, many children behind.

Today in sub-Saharan Africa alone over 28 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS -- the rest of the world totals only 14 million. The number of newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa is 3.5 million -- the rest of the world totals only 1.5 million.

In Zimbabwe, a country with one of the highest infection rates, over 1,000 people die each day and the disease threatens to wipe out an entire generation. The life expectancy in Zimbabwe has dropped from 65 years ten years ago to a mere 34 years today -- and in five more years the average lifespan is expected to reach 27. The full impact of this continuing and compounding pandemic and its effect on the children of Zimbabwe is simply impossible to comprehend.

A Time Magazine article entitled "Death Stalks a Continent" tells the tragic story of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Since this article was published the crisis has worsened dramatically, but the story is still very compelling. View this article.

This plague is unique in history.

The sad difference between other plagues of disease and this crisis is that HIV/AIDS sweeps through communities selectively killing the most productive adults (sexually active adults aged 15-49) and leaves behind the weak and most vulnerable (children and elderly). Throughout history other plagues of disease targeted the weak. Never before in history has a plague swept through a land selectively killing the most productive adults and leaving so many helpless and vulnerable children behind.

The Children Suffer
Because AIDS is concentrated in the sexually active population, the majority of whom are parents, the implications for Zimbabwe’s future are enormous. There is a real possibility that the next generation will be dominated by gangs of parentless youths, growing up alone without love or structure.

Without medicine to treat HIV/AIDS hope runs thin and many are resorting to desperate measures such as the tribal myth that a man can become well through having sex with a young virgin. The tragedy of child rape is now common and many innocent children are venerable without family and support.

Without love, hope and a plan for their lives, the people of Zimbabwe face an almost unthinkable future. When we consider the blessing and privilege we were born into and all that we now enjoy, …it is very hard to look the other way.

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