"Cry bloody murder"

Cry bloody murder is a recent CNN special that tracks the historically poor response of the international community to crisis situations around the world, and more specifically to “genocide”.

As I watched I realized that regardless of the press reports etc., for the most part the horrible crisis in Zimbabwe has pretty much been neglected by the world! We have watched Zimbabwe decline steadily and then, absolutely collapse, under the leadership of their dictator, Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his henchmen. Under the guise of respect for the sovereignty of independent governments, the African Union, with support of the UN and others have basically allowed another power intoxicated, despot to destroy yet another African country and her people. It is stated that within 5 years he destroyed the agricultural development of 100 years. And we have numerous Zimbabwean friends who have fled Zimbabwe who can tell you the personal story of this destruction, causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs as well as a devastation of an entire country and economy.

The Zimbabwe dollar has been worthless for the past few years with inflation in the trillions of percent. One cannot even imagine what this is like…it is incomprehensible, but people have attempted to live within this horror. Recently someone reported seeing million dollar notes pegged on a wire by an outhouse being used for toilet paper!

Well now it has gotten to the point most of us felt it should have (had) arrived at a few years ago already. People are dying of cholera (600 at present count), and millions of others are literally starving to death and fleeing the country to find a way to survive. In our immediate area and up the highway North from us, making a corridor that parallels the Zimbabwe border, the local population have been inundated with very hungry people flowing over the border from Zimbabwe looking for anything to sustain life.

As I met with the pastors and leaders who are the monitors (trainers) in our extension Bible and leadership training schools, they shared the desperate situation they are facing with the food shortages and basic maize (corn) already at 400% the normal price and possibly even doubling over the next two months! Beside the price, food is simply harder and harder to find. Then there are the Zimbabweans; Most showing up on the pastors doorstep, because they know that he is the most likely to try to help. But as much as they would like to try and help, they simply have no way to do this, so they do whatever they can and watch these poor people sleeping in the dirt or on the floor in a church with little they can do to help and little hope they can see for a change.

We as Christ’s ambassadors have been called to bring help and hope in these times, and we do. But the faith and courage it takes to do this when in the natural everything looks impossible, is a challenge that stretches even the best equipped.

As we watch our grain stocks diminishing at a rapid rate to the point where we have to retain the food remaining to keep our feeding program and orphan support alive for the next four months, we are prayerfully determining how we can respond to the current crisis and all the hungry people who arrive daily looking for help. Our commitment is to at least respond to those involved in our programs and web of relationships.

Life and survival is difficult enough without a Robert Mugabe who cares little about anyone else as he desperately clings to power. We need more people crying “bloody murder”, or for my more conservative friends… “ENOUGH!” And taking the action we individually can to stop the injustice and make a difference. It is at times like this that the following verse is so poignant, “so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes. 9:12)