CRI听力：Zimbabwean Children Need International Support

Hello and welcome to this edition of Africa Express here on China Radio International. I'm your host, Wei Tong.

The political and economic problems in Zimbabwe have had some negative impact on the country's children. So, officials of the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, were in Geneva recently to plead with donors to help alleviate the suffering of the children. On the ground in Zimbabwe UNICEF continues to help the communities cope with the challenges facing them but it doesn't have sufficient funding. So the children's agency has appealed for $10 million but so far has received only twenty five per cent of that amount. Added to that, the agency needs another three million dollars for its feeding program. In fairness, UNICEF has received support from the European Commission as well as governments of the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, to meet some of the children's needs. Roeland Monasch is Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Zimbabwe.

Most of that aid is going directly to the communities. Yes we buy vaccines through the government but there is no money going to the government. We provide blankets to the communities directly. We make sure that children are getting school fees paid.

UNICEF's number two man in Zimbabwe says his agency has learned that giving the money directly to the communities produces results.

That's why we still have ninety per cent of children in school. It's unbelievable. School is not for free in Zimbabwe but 90 percent of children are still going to school, including most of the orphans. And that's because of the commitments of the communities and the families that have the best interest of the child.

One good example of the determination of Zimbabweans to educate their children is a 71 year old woman in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe. UNICEF's Chief of Communication James Elder met her recently.

The maize that she had grown to be self sufficient is very dry. They live off a few scrawny chickens. She is a seventy-one year old woman. She is working fifteen hour days in her small informal sector because, in her words, keeping the children healthy is one of her two priorities. The other is getting and keeping them in school.

However, Roeland Monasch warns that lack of funds is having a negative impact on the quality of education in Zimbabwe.

In the past every child in Zimbabwe had her own school books. Now it's ten children for one school book. The quality of education is going down very quickly. For example, Grade Seven exams, which is the big exam in Zimbabwe's primary school, only a third passes Grade Seven. The rest fails. It shows that they are not learning that much or many of them are not learning at school. It is a safe and protected environment and that for us in UNICEF is so important that they go to the school, but we need to do something about it and it's very difficult to get money for education systems.

UNICEF's Chief of Communication, James Elder, says in another area of concern, the fight against HIV and AIDS, Zimbabweans have been able to reduce the number of HIV-infected people, yet there is a huge disparity on the amount provided by the major global funds to Southern African countries to fight HIV and AIDS. Mr. Elder points out that, for example, the average spent in Zimbabwe for an HIV-positive person is 64 US dollars compared to more than 400 dollars in Zambia and 500 dollars in Botswana.

So I think one of the real messages that we bring is that the Zimbabwean families and communities have been nothing short of miraculous in their abilities to cope with the current crisis but the stress on them now is almost overwhelming and UNICEF would say that Zimbabweans deserve the world's support.

In addition to the problems that Zimbabwe is already experiencing, according to Mr. Elder, the country is facing another officially declared drought year. He says this means that families are going to face a serious challenge in meeting their food needs.