Fully packed, HOCIC Zimbabwe trucks headed towards 4 wards in Bulawayo, for the May/ June “MOP- UP” programme to deliver food supplies to beneficiaries who could not make it on the Urban Food Assistance and Livelihoods Programme (UFAL) normal distribution day.
HOCIC, in partnership Latter-Day Saints Charities is assisting 3200 families in Bulawayo.
The 4 wards include; ward 2 which covers QueensPark and Kingsdale, ward 10 covering Entumbane, ward 12 which consists of Njube, Lobhengula old and Extension, ward 17 which covers Pumula North and four peri-urban villages, Mazwi, St Peters, Methodist, and Robert Sinyoka.
“During the cycle mop-up we will be giving people who missed the distribution, because they are entitled to their food basket and we cannot keep it forever” said the UFAL Project Officer, Kudzai Mpofu. “We call them, and in some instances we track them to find out where they are and call them to collect their package or deliver door to door”, she added.
According to Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC), urban food insecurity is now affecting more than 2.2 million people. Download latest ZimVAC report here: //www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/zimvac_2020_food_and_nutrition_security_update_report_february_2020.pdf
UFAL is an urban food distribution programme under HOCIC in partnership with Latter-Day Saints Charities, a wing of the Latter-Day Saints Church. The programme started in October last year (2019) as a response to the bulging urban poverty and food insecurity. The May/June 2020 upsacale distributions were conducted from the 23rd of June to the 27th of June in respective wards.
“Mop-up is meant to be conducted soon after distributions but due to some challenges, it may delay, “said Mpofu.
Each beneficiary visited received their double ration of two months, a food basket of 40kgs maize meal, 4ltrs cooking oil, 3kg sugar beans and 7kgs soya chunks.
They were happy to see HOCIC members knocking at their doors as some thought they had been left out of the UFAL programme since other community members had long received their packages. “Siyabonga lisikhumbulile, besesisithi selasikhupha kuhlelo” (Thank you for remembering us we thought we have been cut out of the programme”, “said one of the beneficiaries from Queens Park
63 households were visited for mop-up. Some of the beneficiaries were not found as they have relocated to new places, and others have passed away.
“Meanwhile, we are working on conducting distributions for July/August set for next week as from the 17th to the 26th of August,” said Mpofu. Zimbabwe is on the brink of starvation as more than 7,7 million people are said to be food insecure as of 2020. The impending disaster warrants that HOCIC Zimbabwe, through its humanitarian wing, actively contributes towards mitigation and achieving of Sustainable Development Goal 2, achieving Zero hunger.
