According to the Zimbabwe Demographic Household Survey of 2010-11 56% of children between the ages of 6 to 59 months are anemic. The National Nutrition Survey which was done in 2010 shows that less than 10% of Zimbabwean children under the age of 2 receive the recommended minimum acceptable diet of eggs, meat, milk products, and legumes are rarely included in the diets of young children. About 35% of child mortality recorded globally are a result of malnutrition. In the past years Zimbabwe has been faced with food insecurity and which has been mainly attributed to the prolonged drought the country has been facing, unsustainable farming practices and also economic challenges.

The World Food Programme recently announced that 2.2 million people are food insecure and are in need of food assistance. Due to high food prices many families can longer afford to have three meals per day, not to mention a balanced diet. Production of small grains and other local varieties, which are huge sources of nutrients, has significantly dropped as farmers now pursue high value crops like tobacco. This has negatively impacted on the nutrition status of the nation, as more people in Zimbabwe are becoming anaemic and obese due to poor diet. Food insecurity is increasing in Zimbabwe especially in dry areas, as more people in these areas are increasingly relying on food assistance from humanitarian organizations to avert malnutrition. The government of Zimbabwe and various development agencies like USAID, Food and Agriculture Orgnization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Progamme of the United Nations (WFP) have been working on ways to promote sustainable diversified agriculture production in the country. Since 2000 through its Humanitarian Assistance Office, USAID has been involved in the funding of food security projects in Zimbabwe which includes the promotion of positive nutrition behaviors aimed at reducing malnutrition among children less than five years of age.

The promotion of new crop varieties, conservation farming and post harvest technologies are some of the methods which can used to improve food security.  FAO representative Mr. David Mfote highlighted that conservation farming can contribute to crop production in Zimbabwe and also there is need for value addition for small grain products in order to increase uptake by people. At a public sensitization meeting for this year’s theme of the 2013 World Food Day commemorations hosted by the US Embassy Public Affairs section representatives from government, FAO, USAID and WFP shared views on Zimbabwe’s Food System.

This year’s World Food Day celebrations will be held in Lupane on the 16th of October under the theme “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition in Zimbabwe. Supporting messages for the 2013 commemorations include “Good nutrition depends on healthy diets, Healthy diets require healthy food systems – along with education, health, sanitation and other factors and Healthy Food Systems are made possible by appropriate policies, incentives and governance”.

Rokpa will be screening the film the “Intouchables” followed by a talk by Tom Soper (quadriplegic) and a delicious tea.

Intouchables
This French film is based on the true story of a quadriplegic who develops an unlikely friendship with his unorthodox and very likeable carer. Philippe is a millionaire who was paralysed from the neck down in an accident. Driss is a man recently out of jail for robbery, who inadvertently becomes Philippe’s caregiver. Their relationship is based on Driss’ confidence that Philippe will improve if he escapes his stuck-up lifestyle and samples freedoms beyond physical ability.

The film, which is both wonderfully humorous as well as poignant, has won numerous awards.

Where: Rokpa, 34 Quendon road, Monavale (parking across the road at the Italian Club for $1)
When: 2:30pm Saturday 19 October
Cost: $10 (all proceeds for charity)

Tickets on sale at the 34 Quendon Road office (mornings only), or at the door.

Last week I got to meet Toni Crabb a Zimbabwean Barcelona based visual artist. Toni has been working in the arts industry for the past 23 years and has done quite a number of exhibitions. Drawing her inspiration from things, which worry her, and things which give her energy Toni, inspires conversation through her art work.

In a small village in Spain with 300 inhabitants, she went onto the football pitch and painted the goalpost pink decorating it with flowers, plants chairs making it into a space for doing interviews with people. “I wanted audience participation, I didn’t want to be the one making the images. I wanted to gather images from the audience relating to female sex pleasure. At first I didn’t know if it would work but I got a got a lot of interest and people participating,” Toni said. After showing the audience the sexual response curve – a line that shows pleasure and orgasm – she got people to discuss the results.

Asked on why Toni specifically chose this topic Toni had this to say, “The reason I did this is because there is little imagery that women make that we can actually feel and relate to about our own pleasure and sexual experience.” Other issues that the artist covers in her work are social issues like people’s relationship to the space around them and people’s relationship to the environment. You can follow Toni on her website here.

Zimbabwean security sector is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent in Africa but at the same time undoubtedly the most biased and civil manipulative. The one thing our security and intelligence have done very well since 18 April 1980 is to protect and retain political thrones for the blue bloods in the country. I believe their primary role is to protect the civilians but all the experiences of ordinary people of Zimbabwe at the hands of our National security has left me terrified and so dreading of their capabilities. When they are working to get any of our aristocratic oligarchs in power, they leave no stone unturned but they failed the simplest drill to ensure that Rebecca Mafikeni of the Glenview 29 gets released to receive medical attention. They have managed to silence us on the death of Christpowers Maisiri and declared it void of foul play. They have managed to give lame testimonies and delay court procedures only to keep Morgan Komichi under incarceration but have failed to open up investigations into the massive diamond looting in the country and only waited for the president to give them leads. No one from the urban land invaders has been reported to have been arrested to face justice so far but anyone who is deemed to have taken an opinion against their masters is very quick to be apprehended and face their unjust laws.

Our security sector is a regime security. I have not found anyone ordinary proclaiming faith in their ability to protect us. Money has always been protecting us in Zimbabwe, if you cannot offer a meal for an officer then you might have to think of getting your protection from somewhere else. Recently the Ghananians plus much more criminals in Zimbabweans have got away with serious crimes, not because they had good defense attorneys but because they had good connections in the security sector. Life is highly expendable in this scenario. Survival and safety mostly is dependent on one’s material possessions and relations rather than the simple fact that we are all citizens of Zimbabwe.

The Visa Restriction Index reveals that Zimbabweans can visit 60 nations with just a passport. Zimbabwe has improved by two countries from its 2012 position. The compilers of the list, Henley and Partners state that there are 219 countries in the world. UK, Finland and Sweden have 173 nations allowing their citizens passport only access while Afghanistan citizens can only visit 28 countries with just a passport.

Analytical reports on the Visa Restriction Index have revealed that this list shows that membership of the European Union is a key determinant of ease of movement across frontiers as evidenced by countries who are at bottom of the list – Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also they have pointed out the imbalance between ease of access for citizens of rich nations and poor nations – no African country made it to the top ten.