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31 July 2002
World Vision New Zealand CEO Helen Green has just returned from Malawi,
where she has secured European Union funding to help with the food crisis
in that country.
"The EU has provided US$150,000 worth of fortified maize, and World
Vision New Zealand has committed to raising US$50,000 for transporting
that maize to areas where the people are most needy," says Mrs Green,
who is now appealing to the New Zealand public to donate money to World
Vision. World Vision Malawi will oversee the transporting and distribution
of the maize.
"This maize will go to the most vulnerable: nursing mothers and
babies under the age of five years. We saw many of these women and babies
really struggling because of the food shortage, and this is a great opportunity
for New Zealanders to see their dollar go further in helping. In reality,
EU is matching our dollar three to one."
Mrs Green says the food crisis, which affects six countries in southern
Africa, is the result of successive years of drought followed by floods
which erode the top soil and bring in army worms which destroy subsequent
crops. "Poor African leadership does have to take some responsibility
for the food crisis, but that doesn't negate the desperate plight of ordinary
people who have nothing to do with political decisions," she says.
"People are eating poisonous beans, which they have to boil five
times before they're edible, and one poor man showed me these and then
burst into tears. Another old man was obviously in the last stages of
dying from hunger and I saw many families who were severely malnourished.
Most heartbreaking is the plight of the babies and children," says
Mrs Green.
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