Poor people's testimony: Living on a dollar a day in Zimbabwe
(Vatican Radio) Zimbabwe is the third most impoverished country in the world with
three quarters of its population living in poverty. Average life expectancy in the
nation stands at just 51 years. So, when you are living on just over one dollar a
day, what kind of food can you afford to put on the table for your family? And what
do poor people say is the worst thing about their status? To find out more Vatican
Radio’s Susy Hodges spoke to a man and a women who are living below the poverty line
in Zimbabwe. She also spoke to a Zimbabwean official who works for Progressio,
an international development charity that was set up to translate Catholic social
teaching intro practical action.
Kelvin is a 25 year old man who is unemployed
like the vast majority of Zimbabwe’s population. He managed to acquire an education
although his impoverished family often required outside help to help pay for the school
fees. He also tells us how throughout his youth he has had to carry out odd jobs,
both to help pay for his education and to support himself owing to the lack of regular
employment.
Kelvin believes that one of the most difficult and demeaning things
about being poor is that people do not bother to consult with you when it comes to
making decisions about your future: “One of the worst things is you’re not involved
in any key decision-making in life,” he says.
Kelvin says “there is poverty
everywhere” in Zimbabwe and tells us how some poor people in his local community are
resorting to extreme measures in order to get money to buy food. “These people force
their children to go out and prostitute themselves” … or else they force them to contract
“early marriages at the age of 10 and 11,” he says.
Vimba is a 44 year old
Zimbabwean woman with four children who is also unemployed. She says life in her
family is a constant struggle to get to the end of the month. “We never have enough
money”… and some days “we don’t have enough food to eat.”
Vimba told us that
the typical meal she prepares for her family is maize meal and vegetables. “Eggs,
she says, “are a luxury, they are out of reach” whilst “meat is usually only eaten
once a week” or even less often than that.
Like Kevin, Vimba says the lack
of power and being excluded from the decision-making process is one of the worst things
about being poor. She says: “it’s not being able to do the things that you know
are best for your family… this makes my life very difficult.” And when it comes to
her future hopes, Vimba, not surprisingly, says “I want a better life for my children
than I have had.”
Philimon Handinahama works for Progressio, a development
charity that seeks to uplift the lives of those living in poverty like Kelvin and
Vimba. He says the HIV/Aids epidemic in Zimbabwe has significantly "increased poverty"
in the nation and explains how Progressio works with a local network of Christian
churches.
Listen to the interviews with Kelvin, Vimba and Handinahama: